Critical Acclaim for "The Unknown Masterpiece"

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American Record Guide

March/April 2006

The Unknown Masterpiece
Premieres from the 2003-2004 Season
St. Martin's Chamber Choir / Timothy J. Krueger
Cygnus 7 - 50 minutes

Here’s an album that illustrates a growing trend in choral recordings: the burgeoning parade of CDs from excellent choirs everywhere that haven’t been able (or don’t want) to attract the attention of a recognized label or distributor. Instead, they sell them on line, directly from their home organization or through any of a number of big on-line vendors, like Amazon.

Mind you, anyone with some basic digital recording equipment and a decent PC can make a CD and market it, so there’s quite a bit of junk out there. In our hi-tech era, if you have a laptop, a little cash, and the proper equipment, you can call yourself a musician, author, photojournalist, videographer, or (forget the cash) even a critic! You can easily get Amazon or other internet merchants to promote just about anything. The information age thus levels out the playing field, burying the good stuff in cyber-mountains of garbage and making mediocrity acceptable to the masses--compounding the eternal struggle to separate wheat from chaff. 

But it's still possible to do it right, even with such a marketing plan. This choir and another I've covered this issue (see Praise Ye the Lord above) are going about it properly, sending their CDs to publications like ARG in hopes of gaining credible critical recognition. They know that knowledgeable and discerning music lovers will resort to reputable media. My work--all our work--pops up on artists' websites everywhere--Google any of our names and see for yourself. Most of us have both praised and condemned self-produced releases like these-and you'll never know how many of them we've collectively junked as unworthy of review. 

This Denver-based choir, recorded in concerts in their 2003-04 season, does better work than many I've heard in studio recordings from respected labels. They further offer a remarkable selection of worthwhile new music for a cappella choir-and every piece is some sort of premiere (World, American, or Colorado)-from mostly little-known or emerging composers. In his notes, Director Krueger writes happily of the opportunity to introduce "the unknown masterpiece", a work that "has legs"-one that is likely to be published, taken up by other choirs, and to have a shot at permanent repertoire status. He believes that some of the works heard here--several of them commissioned by this choir--are strong candidates for just such upward mobility, and I'm inclined to agree with him. One of the most telling criteria for the evaluation of any choir is the quality of the composers who write for it. 

The work Krueger is most confident about is the magnum opus here, the substantial (25 minutes) Mass for Double Choir by Terry Schlenker (b 1957). Krueger calls it "the first great mass setting of the 21st Century". This piece certainly "has legs"; it's a lush and rarefied piece of strong sacred power and appeal. Name any spiritual emotion typically evoked by the Latin mass: hushed mystery, crushing grief, ecstatic joy, or abject reverence-and you'll find it here. The music-performed here for the first time anywhere-is radiant and ethereal, built on modal (and other ancient) foundations, deftly translated into striking and original modern musical language. 

A rewarding array of miniatures follows. 'Sprig of Lilac' is a subdued and image-laden meditation by Robert S. Cohen (b 1945), and Craig Carnahan (b 1951) offers his sweetly hypnotic 'Cradle Song'. M. Susan Brown's (b 1958) smooth arrangement of Brahms's most famous lullaby (he wrote several) continues the gentle maternal mood, and an easy transition to the Marian theme comes with Philip Lord Rea of Eskdale's (1900-81) brief jewel, “I Sing of a Maid'. Particularly moving is' Few Tears' by Janet Vanden Bosch (b 1941) unspeakably sad prose prayer in memory a cherished friend. Of course, one way for a choir director to get world premieres onto a CD is to program his own works--as Krueger does here with his very effective Evening Service in the Edwardian Mode: compact and expressive settings of the classic Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis texts that mark him as a choral composer to reckon with. 

The choir performs at a level of refinement and assurance that is seldom heard in concert performances. Pinpoint intonation, rhythmic precision, luxuriant tone, and deep interpretations-this group has it all. Sound is excellent, especially for such on-site recordings, and you hear hardly a peep from the audience. 

The trifold booklet contains spare and full texts, but almost no information about the composers. In all, this is a significant release-evidence that world-class musical treasures may indeed be found in some out-the-way places. (303-298-1970 or www.StMartinsChamberChoir.org) 

Lindsay Koob

[Lindsay Koob lives, sings, and writes in Charleston SC, where he is also the promoter of a chamber music series and heads the classical department of the major record store.]

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