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Modern choral music for amateur singers may be America's biggest
musical underground. That's the only explanation of why
Grammy-nominated composer Morten Lauridsen can cl that his
works are some of the most often-performed new pieces in years,
although few among the East Coast intelligentsia have ever heard
of him. Like the similarly popular John Rutter, Lauridsen
inhabits an extremely conservative style directed simply and
single-mindedly at showing off the beauty of choral singing while
it illustrates inspiring texts. Unlike many of his fellow
neo-Romantic conservatives, Lauridsen displays a brand of
conservatism that is completely convincing and sincere. His music
also has range, from the spellbindingly rapturous Lux aeterna to
his playful settings of Rilke's poems about the beauty and
thorniness of roses in Les chansons des roses. There is,
moreover, a Coplandesque streak heard in his Mid-Winter Songs,
which are settings of poems by Robert Graves. Though the Los
Angeles Master Chorale has a suitably red-blooded sound, the
music would be better served with more precise diction. --David
Patrick Stearns
Review
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Beautiful...a gorgeous fabric of choral sound that creates a
unique sound-world...pushes you to tears. Simply stunning. --
Raleigh, N.C. News & Observer, June, 2000
Lauridsen enjoys respect of music directors throughout America.
Beauty, potency...grand/ works. Perpetual light shines on
all the settings. -- New York Times, January 30, 2000
Masterly works, both esoteric and accessible, simultaneously
popular and deep, sung with passionate intensity. Give it to your
best friend. -- Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1998
Radiant, heart-felt, absolutely gorgeous music delivered con
amore. Powerfully uplifting, intense spiritual beauty. On my
Year's Best List. -- American Record Guide, September, 1998
Rich, complex, intensely moving...Rose Songs may be the finest
Rilke settings by an American composer. Hypnotically beautiful,
ravishing music. -- Insider's Guide to Classical s, Jim
Svejda, 1999
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About the Artist
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Music by the distinguished American composer, Morten Lauridsen,
occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of
the Twentieth-Century. Choruses and vocal artists throughout the
world regularly perform his six major vocal cycles as well as his
various individual songs and choral works, including the beloved
O Magnum Mysterium and Dirait-on from Les Chansons des Roses,
which have become the all-time best selling choral octavos
distributed by Theodore Presser, in business since 1783. His
works have been widely recorded, including the Grammy-nominated
all-Lauridsen "Lux Aeterna" CD by the Los Angeles Master Chorale
conducted by Paul Salamunovich.
In addition to his position as Composer-in-Residence of the Los
Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943)
has been Chair of the Composition Department at the University of
Southern California Thornton School of Music from 1990-2002. A
native of the Pacific Northwest, he divides his time between Los
Angeles and his summer home on a remote island off the northern
coast of Washington State.
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