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Track(s) taken from CDA67629

Ave Maria

composer
WAB6; 1861; 7vv
author of text
Antiphon for the Blessed Virgin Mary

Polyphony, Stephen Layton (conductor)
Recording details: January 2007
Ely Cathedral, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: October 2007
Total duration: 4 minutes 6 seconds

Cover artwork: Ely Cathedral (detail). Thomas Lound (1802-1861)
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

Corydon Singers, Matthew Best (conductor)
The Cambridge Singers, John Rutter (conductor)
Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks (conductor)
Tenebrae, Nigel Short (conductor)
King's College Choir Cambridge, Sir Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

Reviews

‘Peace and goodwill would be the order of the day if Father Christmas could hand out to all and sundry copies of Polyphony's recording of the Bruckner's Mass in E minor. No disc I've heard this year comes near it for sheer beauty … Polyphony, whose sound is … smoothly rounded, fully blended and sumptuous … Layton produces such gorgeous sounds from his singers that the overall listening experience is infinitely satisfying … the seven unaccompanied motets are absolute gems. An ethereal account of Ave Maria has a breadth and grandeur which belies its short time-span; as the vocal lines crowd in on each other, the effect is nothing short of electrifying. And popular as it is, if there has to be a 'definitive' interpretation on disc of Locus iste, this has to be it. Put it simply, we're unlikely to hear choral singing as fine as this for a good few years to come’ (Gramophone)

‘This really excellent offering from Polyphony … Polyphony trumps all others for beauty of tone … in the Benedictus, too, musical sense arises from transparency and intelligent phrasing … the performances of the motets are excellent, too, painting nuanced pictures of these vocally and philosophically stratospheric pieces’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia catch the music's starkness, exaltation and mysticism as movingly as I have heard. This is a searching performance, with soft singing of awed intensity, but also an unusually dramatic one. Stephen Layton never allows Bruckner's music, even at its most unearthly, to become becalmed; and he builds climaxes of molten intensity in, say, the Sanctus, or the fervent motet Christus factus est. A glorious disc of music that strives for, and ultimately attains, a state of transcendent peace’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘I wasn’t prepared for the excellence of this program … the musicianship is so sophisticated, so meticulous that it’s impossible not to get swept up in what the singers are doing … what really captures my attention is the spectrum of vocal colors these singers create in pianissimo range … Maestro Layton’s performances inspire the soul even as they break the heart with their intense beauty’ (American Record Guide)

‘This album finds the composer secure in his spiritual home, serving God in music transcendent. Stephen Layton's reading of the Second Mass articulates sublime, prayer-like qualities routinely overlooked and underplayed by others. The approach … is revelatory, rich in contrasts, fervent outbursts and symphonic tension … an outstanding release’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘The performance is strong and characterful: beautifully sung by Polyphony and subtly, imaginatively accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia's wind band … the group sing with ravishing, lustrous tone throughout and phrase and colour magnificently. Their dynamic and dramatic range is great and tension is continually racked up under the baton of Stephen Layton, though never at the expense of vocal purity, profundity of expression or dignity of delivery’ (MusicOHM.com)
The setting of Ave Maria heard here is the second of two for choir. (A third version for solo voice and piano, organ or harmonium also survives.) Bruckner uses the form of the Ave Maria that was approved by Pius V in 1568: two extracts from St Luke’s Gospel combined with a prayer. Unusually, however, he draws attention to ‘Jesus’, a word not included by all composers, presenting it in three increasingly powerful statements that suggest the growing presence of Christ in Mary’s womb. With the exception of the trebles, all the vocal parts subdivide, sometimes more than once. It is not clear why the top part alone remains undivided. Was this a reflection of the make-up of the choir that gave the first performance in 1861 in Linz’s Old Cathedral? (During the nineteenth century many Austrian churches restricted the participation of women in services, leading to a general shortage of female voices.) Or did Bruckner intend the unassuming treble part to represent Mary herself? Initially, the music is homophonic, with typically Brucknerian blocks of sound surely inspired by Venetian cori spezzati (divided choirs). It is only at the start of the prayer section (‘Sancta Maria’) that the composer moves into imitative mode, with hints of a canon on the words ‘ora pro nobis’. The motet ends with a simple Amen, set in the traditional way as a plagal cadence.

from notes by Martin Ennis © 2020

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