Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
Modern choral music for amateur singers may be America's biggest musical underground. That's the only explanation of why Grammy-nominated composer Morten Lauridsen can claim that his works are some of the most often-performed new pieces in years, although few among the East Coast intelligentsia have ever heard of him. Like the similarly popular John Rutter, Lauridsen inhabits an extremely conservative style directed simply and single-mindedly at showing off the beauty of choral singing while it illustrates inspiring texts. Unlike many of his fellow neo-Romantic conservatives, Lauridsen displays a brand of conservatism that is completely convincing and sincere. His music also has range, from the spellbindingly rapturous Lux aeterna to his playful settings of Rilke's poems about the beauty and thorniness of roses in Les chansons des roses. There is, moreover, a Coplandesque streak heard in his Mid-Winter Songs, which are settings of poems by Robert Graves. Though the Los Angeles Master Chorale has a suitably red-blooded sound, the music would be better served with more precise diction. --David Patrick Stearns









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Disc 1:

1. Introitus - Lux Aeterna
2. In Te, Domine, Speravi - Lux Aeterna
3. O Nata Lux - Lux Aeterna
4. Veni, Sancte Spiritus - Lux Aeterna
5. Agnus Dei - Lus Aeterna - Lux Aeterna
6. En Une Seule Fleur - Les Chansons Des Roses
7. Contre Qui, Rose - Les Chansons Des Roses
8. De Ton Reve Trop Plein - Les Chansons Des Roses
9. La Rose Complete - Les Chansons Des Roses
10. Dirait - On - Les Chansons Des Roses
11. Ave Maria - Ave Maria
12. MID WINTER SONGS: Lament For Pasiphae - M. LAURIDSEN
13. MID WINTER SONGS: Like Snow - M. LAURIDSEN
14. MID WINTER SONGS: She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep - M. LAURIDSEN
15. MID WINTER SONGS: Mid-Winter Waking - M. LAURIDSEN
16. MID WINTER SONGS: Intercession In Late October - M. LAURIDSEN
17. O Magnum Mysterium - O Magnum Mysterium

Rating: - * Sublimely beautiful choral music ... Again, breaking my rule against reviewing CDs, for music that is truly exceptional. This is the CD that I play most often, outstripping #2 (Verdi's "Don Carlos", if you must know) by a factor of three to one. Lauridsen has been compared to influences ranging from Brahms to Arvo Pärt - he is surely the preeminent American composer of choral music working today. All of the works featured on this CD: "lux Aterna", "Chansons des Roses", and "Mid-Winter Songs" are ethereally beautiful. Personally, it's the "Chansons des Roses", which set several of Rilke's 'rose poems' to music, that leave me breathless every time. This is an extraordinary CD, and one which I highly recommend. Rating: - * \"Lux Aeternum\" - LA Masterchoral ... The Masterchoral is in top form on this recording. The recording was up for a Grammy a few years back, and it deserved the nomination. This music is magical and these performances are wonderful. Rating: - * The Most Calm and Pleasing Music ... I actually already had had this previously but a friend stepped on it. Okay, my fault that it was laying out. Anyway I have loved it so much that I immediately ordered another one. So wonderful to hear this beautiful music once again. Rating: - * Review of Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna/Salamunovich, Los Angeles Master Chorale ... This is a fabulous CD! I have sung at least one of the compositions on the CD in a choral society to which I belong. I am also familiar with the composer and love his music. The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a wonderful music group! Rating: - * So beautiful that it hurts. ... Two days ago I had never heard of Morten Lauridsen (shame on me). Our local PBS station (WITF in Harrisburg, PA) opened its morning show a few days ago at 9 AM with his lovely "Sure on This Shining Night," a segment of a poem by James Agee. I could not work for an hour after hearing it. Students entered my office and left quickly at the sight of my dazed look. I immediately purchased three recordings, and this one, "Lux Aeterna," is my favorite. The music is so beautiful that it hurts. Buy this album now. The music is truly exquisite. The performance is outstanding. The CD is a masterpiece. After one hearing of Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna," I tell you the truth: I could not sleep the entire night. The music was with me all night, and it continues to resonate through my soul.