Christ Church Cathedral: Mass of the Eternal Flame: New Music by Eriks Ešenvalds & Rachel Laurin
Acis

There are many reasons why this recent release featuring performances by the Robert Simpson-conducted Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, the Marianna Parnas-Simpson-conducted Treble Choir of Houston, organists Thomas Marvil and Daryl Robinson, Paragon Brass, harpist Laura Smith, and percussionist Craih Hautsschildt warrants recommendation. First and foremost, a recording featuring material by esteemed Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds (b.1977) is always cause for celebration, and, secondly, the fact that the opening piece, Mass of the Eternal Flame, is a world premiere recording increases the release's appeal. Thirdly, adding extra value, two works by the late Canadian composer Rachel Laurin (1961-2023) are included, one a choral piece and the other a two-part organ work also receiving its world premiere recording. Certainly the exposure Laurin, who was the organist at the St. Clement parish in Ottawa and who died in August of last year from cancer, will receive through her pairing with Ešenvalds on the release will help make her work more widely known.

How Mass of the Eternal Flame came into being is itself interesting. To honour Robert Simpson's quarter-century of service in leading the Cathedral's music department, Christ Church decided to commission a commemorative work and thus approached Ešenvalds. After it was determined that the Cathedral had never commissioned a mass and the composer had never written one, the new piece was born. At approximately twenty-one minutes, it's concise for a four-part mass but no less memorable as a result when it exhibits all of the signature qualities that have made Ešenvalds's work so renowned. Introduced by Robinson and Paragon Brass, “Kyrie” rapidly takes flight as the Cathedral Choir alternates between gentle supplications and soaring declamations and the instrumental and vocal forces combine their resources. The worshipful tone carries over into “Gloria,” its arresting vocal writing intensified by omnipresent organ and timpani and culminating in a magnificent “Amen.” The work's arguable high point is “Sanctus and Benedictus” for coupling a lovely soprano solo by Michelle Girardot and a resplendent vocal tapestry of upper choir voices. A sense of calm and peace infuses “Agnus Dei,” which brings the work to a majestic resolution with all the grace and poise one expects from an Ešenvalds creation.

Six short works by the composer follow, though, again, their impact in no way suffers from brevity. All carry Ešenvalds's melodic signature, be it the transfixing Lux aeterna, Salutation, and The Heavens' Flock, all of which receive commanding performances by the Cathedral Choir, or the pieces sung by the Treble Choir of Houston, which consists of young women from grades six to twelve. Its rendition of Stars is distinguished by their hushed voices and the ethereal shimmer of water-tuned glasses (that could be mistaken for the soft tones of an organ). Ešenvalds's recasting of the traditional Swedish folk song “Who Can Sail Without the Wind” receives a touching rendering by female choir, with Ella Theurer as the soloist and Smith on harp. Perhaps the album's most stirring moment arrives with O Salutaris Hostia for the chills-inducing sound generated when two sopranos, the Treble Choir's Joanna Wilson and Lilliana Baker, deliver the composer's glorious melodies and amplify the effect by singing in paired thirds (at that moment, you might be reminded of the “Duo des fleurs” from Delibes' Lakmé). Hearing the two soaring high over the choir's precisely paced half notes accentuates the beauty of the music all the more, and one wonders whether Wilson and Baker will ever be gifted with material better than this to sing.

The album closes with the two pieces by Laurin, the first, Dedisti Domine, Op. 85, written for the fiftieth anniversary of her parish in Ottawa, Ontario and in honour of Saint Clement. One of the few choral pieces composed by her, the five-minute motet is performed with consummate grace by the Cathedral Choir with Thomas Marvil at the organ. There are moments that call to mind Fauré's Requiem in D minor, Op. 48, but Laurin's wondrous creation doesn't suffer by the comparison. At recording's end, organist Robinson performs her Diptych, Op. 107, and, in fact, it was he who suggested that the two-part piece could be used as Opening and Closing Voluntaries at church or presented as a singular concert piece, obviously the form it takes in this context. The tone of the opening part, “Bucolico,” establishes the work as something of a fantasia as it advances adventurously from one episode to another, the music at one moment pastoral and at another invoking the hymn “How shall I sing that Majesty.” The exuberant second movement, “Con fuoco,” proves a showcase for Robinson's virtuosity as it progresses through multiple high-velocity sequences and roller coaster-like gestures.

Recorded at the Church of St. John the Divine in Houston, Texas during 2023, the hour-long Mass of the Eternal Flame has to be seen as an essential acquisition for Ešenvalds fans; it also, however, reflects magnificently on the performers involved and is a genuine feather-in-the-cap for the Simpsons, their respectively conducted choirs, and the instrumentalists. The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral impresses on this release, but so too does the Treble Choir of Houston.

October 2024