Album

The program heard on this German release is organized around contemporary American choral music by the likes of Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen—tonal music based on rich harmonic effects but spare in its expressive ethos and not really neo-Romantic in character. These composers have arisen from a nexus of skilled choirs in the United States, largely outside the sphere of academic modernism or urban avant-gardes. They have begun to make an impact in Britain, but, as the booklet for this disc notes, they are almost unknown outside of choral spheres in continental Europe. So this release by the energetic German conductor Nicol Matt and his Amadeus-Chor has something of the flavor of a tour through virgin territory. When a body of music is approached from the outside, stylistic boundaries blur in unusual ways. The Anglophone listener may find that any individual piece on this album has been more convincingly sung elsewhere, but that they have not yet been put together in this sequence. Instead of the Renaissance classics or twentieth century English cathedral works to which American choirs often turn to round out such a program, Matt selects an all-American body of work, looking back to Aaron Copland and Ives, and outward to the sensuous African-American spiritual arrangements of the late choir leader Moses Hogan. Some of the transitions are jarring. It's hard to tell what German composer Uwe Ungerer's arrangement of Bette Midler's "The Rose" contributes to the program (although it's effective enough in itself, neither a simple setting of the tune nor a major departure from it). But others illuminate some indirect sources of the current efflorescence of American choral writing. Copland's youthful Four Motets, with sacred but studiedly non-Christian texts he wrote himself, may not have directly influenced the likes of Whitacre, but they have a direct yet adventurous spirit he would recognize. And Matt did even better to go back to two short Ives choral works: simple, yet defining their own musical world in quick strokes. Neither the Copland nor the Ives pieces are terribly commonly heard, whereas the contemporary pieces have been staples of American choral programming on disc and in concert lately. One can hear more resonant recordings of Hogan's music from his own recordings (the Amadeus-Chor doesn't sing with a German accent, but no one would mistake them for Americans), or of Lauridsen from several British specialist choirs. But the whole program hangs together in a pleasing way, and the SACD engineering (sampled on a good conventional stereo) is equal to the best the singers can come up with. All the original English and Latin texts are translated into German in the booklet

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Samuel Barber Composer Agnus Dei, for chorus and keyboard, Op.11 (arr. of 2nd mvmt. of String Quartet) Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir, Anja Stäbler Soprano
1	Agnus Dei, for chorus and keyboard, Op.11 (arr. of 2nd mvmt. of String Quartet)	6:50			$0.99
Aaron Copland Composer 4 Motets Work 9:53 Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
2	1.Help us, O Lord	2:08			$0.99
3	2.Thou, O Jehovah, abideth forever	2:27			$0.99
4	3.Have mercy on us, O my Lord	3:19			$0.99
5	4.Sing ye praises to our King	1:59			$0.99
Eric Whitacre Composer Lux aurumque, for chorus (also for wind ensemble) Work Marianne Dressler Soprano, Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
6	Lux aurumque, for chorus (also for wind ensemble)	3:27			$0.99
Eric Whitacre Composer Cloudburst, for chorus, handbells, percussion and piano Work Christian Schmitt Piano, Youth Percussion Ensemble Albrecht Volz, Renningen Percussion, Nicolas Kröger Bass, Isabel Delemarre-Werner Soprano, Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir, Jose Navarro Spoken Word
7	Cloudburst, for chorus, handbells, percussion and piano	8:04			$1.49
Eric Whitacre Composer Water Night Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
8	Water Night	4:40			$0.99
Paul J. Christiansen Composer My Song in the Night, for chorus Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
9	My Song in the Night, for chorus	4:04			$0.99
Morten Lauridsen Composer Nocturnes, 3 motets for chorus & piano Work 15:03 Christian Schmitt Piano, Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
10	1.Sa Nuit d'Été (Nr. 1 aus Nocturnes)	3:45			$0.99
11	2.Soneto de la Noche (Nr. 2 aus Nocturnes)	6:39			$0.99
12	3.Sure On This Shining Night	4:39			$0.99
Uwe Ungerer Composer The Rose, for chorus Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
13	The Rose, for chorus	4:36			$0.99
Charles Edward Ives Composer Lord God, They Sea Is Mighty, anthem for chorus and organ, S.174 Work Moshe Haas Tenor, Nicolas Kröger Bass, Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir, Sonja Rullmann Alto, Lara Langguth Soprano
14	Lord God, They Sea Is Mighty, anthem for chorus and organ, S.174	2:22			$0.99
Charles Edward Ives Composer Crossing the Bar, for chorus and organ, S.164 Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
15	Crossing the Bar, for chorus and organ, S.164	3:49			$0.99
Spiritual Traditional Composer Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir, Anja Stäbler Soprano
16	Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho	2:19			$0.99
Moses Hogan Composer I'm Gonna Sing 'til the Spirit Moves in My Heart, spiritual setting for chorus Work Moshe Haas Tenor, Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir
17	I'm Gonna Sing 'til the Spirit Moves in My Heart, spiritual setting for chorus	2:17			$0.99
Moses Hogan Composer Elijah Rock, spiritual setting for chorus Work Amadeus-Chor Chorus/Choir, Anja Stäbler Soprano
18	Elijah Rock, spiritual setting for chorus	4:48			$0.99