These 15 inventive and beautiful settings of church antiphons were composed in 1919.

Antiphon 1, "While the King sitteth at his table," presents bright, harmonically rich chords, like Mussorgsky's church bells in Boris Godunov, an unceasing rhythm above the simple antiphon bass.

Antiphon 2, "His left hand is under my head," played tranquillo, is made up of gently floating eighth-note chords mostly with a Satie-like modal quality.

Antiphon 3, "I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem," is light textured (flute harmonics, voix celeste, quintatön, and pedals in bourdon registration). The lovely, simple arching melody (which could easily become a popular romantic ballad) sings above rolling chords.

Antiphon 4, "Lo, the winter is past," is a steady flow of joy at the emergence of a verdant springtime. Bright arpeggios of rich harmonies (sixth and eleventh chords) create a free interchange of modes speeding by.

Antiphon 5, "How fair and pleasant art thou" has a pleasant pastoral feeling as its lines ascend and descend in large arches (roughly ten measures) at an Andante moderato tempo.

Ave Maris Stella 1, "When the salutation Gabriel had spoken" is a canon, in steady quarter and half notes, between the soprano (upper manual) and the bass (pedals).

Ave Maris Stella 2, "Jesus' tender Mother, make Thy supplication" employs the chorale tune in the middle voice. The treble moves in minor sevenths and thirds to create not an "eerie" or "dreamy" texture but a strange kind of nostalgic atmosphere.

Ave Maris Stella 3, "So now as we journey" surrounds the chorale tune with Bachian figures. The progression avoids traditional modulations; a harmony is often shifted a half-beat or so away from the same (implied) chord in another voice creating an interesting kind of Baroque-inflected modernism.

Ave Maris Stella 4, "Amen" opens with a fortississimo Animato patter that creates a powerful tension in D minor. The antiphon then enters in an earth-shaking bass. Eventually the treble pattern is simplified (to C sharp, D, F, A) and a final ascent ends in a pianissimo D minor chord.

Magnificat 1, "My soul doth magnify the Lord" develops Wagnerian-type progressions in triplet arpeggios beneath a melody in the highest register with romantic suspensions moving in eighths. The wide-ranging texture is highly attractive.

Magnificat 2, "For behold from henceforth all generations" has fascinating Bach-like counterpoint and unique two-voice pedal work.

Magnificat 3, "And his mercy is on them that fear him" is a three-part canon on an anxious chromatic subject that perfectly expresses the image of "scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts."

The exquisite ascending theme of Magnificat 4, (Cantilena) "He hath...exalted the humble and meek" is harmonized by rich impressionist harmonies in descending arpeggios.

The brief Magnificat 5, "He rememb'ring His mercy" is expressed in slow, mysterious, ephemeral treble harmonies.

Magnificat 6, "Gloria," has fiery triplet arpeggios that rage above angular pedal work toward a spectacular ending.

© All Music Guide