Customer Reviews

Beautiful and pure ecstasy... - By: Timothy ( tim_daf69@yahoo.com), 07 Mar 2002
Listening to this recording is like sittingin a small gothic stone churchin the South of France.The 12 works collected here span from the 16th century to the 20th century,but the performances,interpretations & acoustics make all of the music sound immediate & contemporary.The title text,translated as "O Great Mystery," is featuredin three separate compositions by Victoria,Lauridsen & Poulenc.The mystery ostensibly deals with the incarnation,but these fresh but timeless,sensitive but vital,performances seems to lovingly embrace both heaven & earth.The words are specially Christian,but the music delicately exultsin the universal dichotomies of temporal & eternal,real & ideal.Anyone familiar with choral literature from the Renaissance period will recognize that they are renewed with vibrancy & beauty.They are a real delight showing the skill of Shaw to achieve both a perfect balance between the voices,tonal beauty & superb artistic expression.All of these versions vibrate with an indescribable beauty that has the power to leave the listenerin tears at its transcendent,soaring melodies,and evocative imagery.One could only imagine what miracles might happen if everyone would spend even a few minutes caught upin "O VOS OMMNES"
and " O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM".