Cover: Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead? (1905) by Howard Pyle (1853-1911)
Hyperion CDA67449 · March 2005
Lauridsen - Lux aeterna & other choral works
Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia, Stephen Layton (conductor)
- GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION
- MUSIC WEB INTERNATINAL RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Press
BBC Radio 32005Westminster Cathedral? Broadway? Estonia even? In fact it’s the shamelessly ecstatic writing of the American composer Morten Lauridsen raising alleluias at the end of his Lux aeterna. This extended work for chorus and orchestra…Read the review 
The Seattle Times2005One of today's most performed choral composers, Northwest native Morten Lauridsen has won legions of international fans for the otherworldly beauty of his music. This new Hyperion CD has paired that music with superb…Read the review 
Classics Today.com2005It would be difficult today to be a choral singer and not be familiar with at least one or two works by American composer Morten Lauridsen, whose sumptuously mellifluous creations (I'm thinking especially of O magnum mysterium…Read the review 
The St Louis Post2005Lux aeterna" illuminates hope with choral music In the course of my work, I receive compact discs by the dozen each week, more than I can listen to, let alone review. I try to give as many of them as I can a hearing; once in a…Read the review 
Fanfare USA2005I had seen the name of Morten Lauridsen with growing frequency over the past few years; he seemed to be attracting an ever-larger reputation among choral circles for a body of music that singers love to perform. But even though…Read the review 
BBC Music Magazine2005Read the review 
American Record Guide2005Layton and company have here produced the finest I've heard among several excellent collections of Lauridsen's work. None are quite as exquisitely nuanced or sung with such glowing vocal sheen as this. Clear and shimmering…Read the review 
Classic FM Magazine2005Stephen Layton's feel for the inner line and structure melts the heart, as does the impeccable, unforced singing of Polyphony. Their music-making remains in heavenly realms throughout the virtuoso Madrigali: pure choral goldRead the review 
International Record Review2005Conventional choral wisdom suggests that the American Morten Lauridsen is a one-work wonder and certainly O magnum mysterium is wonderful, with vocal lines that arch out like fan vaulting. With this new recording Stephen Layton…Read the review 
The Daily Telegraph2005The music has freshness and an affecting emotional pull to it that explains its popularity with singers and audiences across the pond. Stephen Layton's Polyphony, whose recent recordings of Pärt, Tavener and others have been…Read the review 
Music Week2005Above all, these performances by Stephen Layton's Polyphony are breathtakingly beautiful, powerfully expressive without trace of forced sentimentality. Hyperion's Disc of the Month for March should become one of the year's…Read the review 
The Scotsman2005Every one of the works on this mesmerising Hyperion release is deliciously lyrical and harmonically sumptuous, but spiced with delicate dissonances that are Lauridsen's signature … Every performance here is delivered with liquid…Read the review 
The Observer2005exquisitely sung by Polyphony with strong support from the Britten Sinfonia under Stephen LaytonRead the review 
Stereophile USA2005The sound is very clean, very focused and detailed, and has remarkable sound-stage depth. Even more so as an SACD … The bottom line is, if you aren't familiar with Lux aeterna, your life is the poorer for it. You do need a…Read the review 
Gramophone Magazine2005There is some outstanding choral singing here, particularly in the six Madrigali. These are vocally challenging works demanding the kind of technical and musical supremacy in which Polyphony, now approaching their 20th year, are…Read the review 
The Manchester Evening News2005He's the thinking choristers' John Rutter, highly regarded in the USA and noted for bringing the multi-voice polyphonic style of the great Renaissance masters into the present. More than that, he has a way of writing melodies of…Read the review 
Opera Magazine2005The choral work of Polyphony, under the direction of Stephen Layton, is solid and inspiring throughout the CD, but it is in the a capella performances where their true musicianship, impeccable intonation and sense of ensemble is…Read the review - The Daily Express2005Written in 1997, US composer Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna was immediately hailed as a classic when it was first performed. Listening to this recording from British choir Polyphony (accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia), it’s not…Read the review
Recorded: Various dates
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: March 2005
Total duration: 66 minutes 7 seconds
Track list
- Lux aeterna: IntroitusMorten Lauridsen (b1943)6'36
- Lux aeterna: In te, Domine, speraviMorten Lauridsen (b1943)4'13
- Lux aeterna: O nata luxMorten Lauridsen (b1943)3'39
- Lux aeterna: Veni, Sancte SpiritusMorten Lauridsen (b1943)2'20
- Lux aeterna: Agnus Dei, Lux aeternaMorten Lauridsen (b1943)9'40
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Ov'è, lass', il bel viso?Morten Lauridsen (b1943)2'44
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Quando son più lontanMorten Lauridsen (b1943)4'15
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Amor, io sento l'almaMorten Lauridsen (b1943)1'50
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Io piangoMorten Lauridsen (b1943)3'26
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Luci serene e chiareMorten Lauridsen (b1943)2'46
- Madrigali. Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems: Se per havervi, oimeMorten Lauridsen (b1943)4'17
- Ave MariaMorten Lauridsen (b1943)6'41
- Ubi caritas et amorMorten Lauridsen (b1943)7'00
- O magnum mysteriumMorten Lauridsen (b1943)6'40
Recording details from Hyperion Records.