NORTHERN
LIGHTS
Choral
Works by OLA GJEILO
Phoenix
Chorale / Charles Bruffy
Chandos
5100 / *****
It's official: the future of choral music
points strongly to a return to polyphonic tonality. Atonal choral music has
become passé, and unlikely to appear regularly in the programmes of the world's
choirs, which are mostly amateur groups who love a good sing. The Norwegian Ola
Gjeilo (born 1978) belongs to the generation of choral composers (think also
Eric Whitacre and Gabriel Jackson) who embrace tonality in all its glory and
are unabashed about flaunting it. Elements to be found in popular, film and
gospel music appear in his compositions. These bear English titles but are based
on Latin liturgical texts and have strong roots with early church music.
Listen to the opening bars of The Ground (Pleni Sunt Caeli), and one is reminded of an Abba song and then a
climax of a feel good movie later on. Gjeilo makes cameos as pianist, as do the
Harrington String Quartet in the kinetically charged Dark Night Of The Soul, the longest work at 13 minutes. The tenor
saxophone of Ted Belledin lend an air of insouciance in Evening Prayer, which is pure easy listening. For his most
representative works, listen to Northern
Lights, Ubi Caritas and Unicornis Captivatur. There are five
premiere recordings, and the Arizona-based professional choir is beautifully
recorded. A spiritually charged and highly enjoyable listen awaits.
CARRERAS.
DOMINGO. PAVAROTTI
IN
CONCERT
25th
Anniversary Edition
Decca
478 8601 (CD & DVD) / *****
Twenty-five years after the fact, Decca
has seen it fit to further milk the cash cow that was the first Three Tenors
Concert. That was held on 7 July 1990 at the Caracalla Baths in Rome, in
conjunction with the soccer World Cup. That was an once-in-a-lifetime event,
with sequels in Los Angeles (1994) and Paris (1998) which failed to match in
terms of sense of occasion and pure novelty. Just to give one the idea of its
impact: Opera became instantly accessible, while Jose Carreras, Placido
Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Nessun
Dorma became household names overnight. A downside was it gave birth to
that bastard child, the pseudo-art that is known as “pop opera”.
After all, who could resist the appeal of
arias like Puccini's Recondita Armonia
or E Lucevan Le Stelle (both from Tosca) or popular songs like O Sole Mio, Torna A Surriento or Granada. Then there are those cheesy
medleys orchestrated by Lalo Schifrin where the tenors engage in some
one-upmanship, all in good fun. This Silver Anniversary Edition comprises the
original best-selling CD and DVD of the entire concert with the Orchestras of
Maggio Musicale of Florence and Teatro dell'Opera of Rome conducted by Zubin
Mehta) and a behind-the-scenes documentary The
Impossible Dream. Watch the DVD at home, pop the CD into the car stereo and
then sing along. Here is a timely reminder about the powerful draw of musical
spectaculars.
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