Album

One of the many tragedies surrounding the sudden disappearance of the English Collins Classics label in the late '90s was the loss of the entire catalog of the excellent choral group The Sixteen led by Harry Christophers. The Sixteen's Collins recordings cover an extensive amount of literature, are well recorded, and extraordinarily well performed as Christophers' group is made up of full-time professionals. Soprano Sarah Leonard is among the "name" performers heard on the 1996 Collins disc Le Jeune France, which in 2004 was finally reissued on The Sixteen's own label, Coro, along with all of the other Collins issues by The Sixteen. This is truly reason to celebrate for fans of choral music.

Le Jeune France is addressed to a valuable and little understood area of between-the-wars French music, namely the group "Le Jeune France" that chronologically followed Les Six. Composers André Jolivet, Yves Baudrier, Olivier Messiaen, and Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur departed from the facile and piquant confections that marked the style of Les Six and introduced a tougher, more spiritually based French idiom informed by the example of Varèse combined with an awareness of expressionism. Although the ultra-obscure Baudrier is not heard from here, the other three are represented by prime postwar examples of their choral output in pieces originally premiered by L'Ensemble Vocale Marcel Couraud.

The Jolivet Epithalame is wild and weird; the liner notes state that the work almost proved impossible even for The Sixteen, being written at such a high level of difficulty and complexity. Texturally the Epithalame is so busy and extreme that at times it makes the chorus sound like a "crowd"; by comparison Messiaen's familiar Rechants (5) sound conservative. Although the Rechants (5) are well done here, the most appealing work on Le Jeune France is Daniel-Lesur's Le Cantique des cantiques. Back in 1953 Le Cantique des cantiques was probably regarded as a throwback to older and unhip liturgical models, but with the passage of time Daniel-Lesur's evocations of chant and long passages of slowly evolving, impressionistic stasis identifies this as a clear harbinger of the "holy minimalist" style to emerge three decades later. It is a masterpiece, and The Sixteen has done well to bring the pioneering music of Daniel-Lesur to the attention of listeners.

© Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

CD 1
André Jolivet Composer Epithalame, for chorus Work 19:59 The Sixteen Chorus/Choir
1	1.Ouvrons les portes de l'amour, Moderato	8:34			$0.99
2	2.Fille du souffle, Allegro semplice	8:15			$0.99
3	3.Au son de sa lyre, Allegro maestoso	3:10			$0.99
Olivier Messiaen Composer 5 Rechants, for 12 voices, I/31 Work 18:26 The Sixteen Chorus/Choir
4	1.Hayo kapri tama (Modéré. Presque vif)	4:54			$0.99
5	2.Ma première fois terre (Bien modéré)	3:18			$0.99
6	3.Ma robe d'amour (Lent, caressant)	3:59			$0.99
7	4.Niokhamâ palalan(e) soukî (Très vif)	2:42			$0.99
8	5.Mayuoma kalimolimo (Vif)	3:33			$0.99
Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur Composer Le cantique des cantiques, for unaccompanied voices Work 21:27 The Sixteen Chorus/Choir
9	1.Dialogue	3:31			$0.99
10	2.La Voix du Bien-Aimé	3:51			$0.99
11	3.Le Songe	1:45			$0.99
12	4.Le Roi Salomon	1:33			$0.99
13	5.Le Jardin Clos	4:00			$0.99
14	6.La Sulamite	3:58			$0.99
15	7. Épithalame	2:49			$0.99