Chamber Choir of Europe / Nicol Matt LIGHT ETERNAL

Writing music that radiates a personal voice is the holy grail for many composers. Morten Lauridsen has found his by tapping into the root power of the human voice itself, creating an aesthetic that is immediate while at the same time transportive and transcendent. This combination makes him a rare instance of a mystic in American music, to borrow the choral scholar Nick Strimple’s apt characterization. And it is the secret behind the immense magnetism that attracts listeners and performers to Lauridsen.

Even a first encounter with Lux aeterna, the work that lends this album its title, readily conveys the special qualities that set Lauridsen apart: the meditative spaces he establishes and sustains over long stretches; the clarity with which he writes for the singing voice; above all, the warmth and emotional directness of his musical ideas, which the composer weaves together with concealed but admirable craft, making them sound inevitable. (Thomas May)