| Since I was in the Rockefeller Chapel Choir when we recorded this CD, take the five stars with a grain of salt; what else do you expect me to say? But let me call your attention to two pieces on this CD that are particularly worth listening to -- and singing. First, Baumann's "Pater Noster" is a wonderful setting of the Lord's Prayer. It grows slowly from silence into sound, as if the petitioners are hesitant to address the Lord, but then becomes more demonstrative, even imploring. The overall effect is one of dissonance slowly resolving into harmony through gently shifting block chords. A small gem, this. Very good devotional music. A larger gem is Johann Nepomuk David's "Deutsche Messe," which puts a whole new spin on the mass. We in the choir particularly enjoyed the "Sanctus." Abandoning the Latin text of the mass here as in the rest of the "German Mass," David instead goes for the theme of adoration, illustrated by the story of Isaiah, in the spirit, seeing the Lord in glory, with the seraphim flying about the throne, singing God's praise. David depicts the vision by starting out very matter-of-fact, as if saying, "once upon a time, there was a prophet named Isaiah, who was in the spirit on the Lord's day." Nothing new or unusual for Isaiah, suggests David. But he quickly piles ten different vocal lines on top of each other until the whole choir is describing the seraphim and their six wings. Then the texture breaks up: the basses keep repeating the longer line ("Holy is the Lord God Sabaoth"), while the other parts toss "Holy" back and forth like fanfares, as if the singers were the seraphim covering their eyes but shouting out their praises -- along with the heavenly choir along the hem of God's robe. The cries of "holy" rise in pitch until they indeed "fill the whole world" -- at least the sonic world of this piece. At the end, the rafters and beams tremble, and Isaiah's vision disappears in mist and smoke. David expresses this by ending the movement on a very unclear -- even smoky -- chord. Great stuff. Packs a dramatic wallop into less than two minutes. Would be wonderful for a church choir to sing when this lesson is read. This CD also has some great seasonal music: a lovely arrangement of "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming"; a challenging "Victimae Paschali Laudes" that is both martial and medieval, and incorporates the "Great Alleluia" from the Easter vigil service; and two pieces appropriate to Pentecost. "Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist" sets the German chorale tune in a simple but heartfelt, almost canon-like way. "Veni Creator Spiritus" invokes the Holy Spirit in music that is itself at times aflame. | 
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