Mass of the Eternal Flame
The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Houston/Robert Simpson
The Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral/Mariann Parnas-Simpson
Paragon Brass
Daryl Robinson & Thomas Marvel (organ)
rec. 2023, The Church of St John the Divine, Houston, USA
Texts and English translations included
Acis APL53868 [60]

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of choral pieces by the Latvian composer, Ēriks Ešenvalds and I’ve very much admired what I’ve heard. He has a natural affinity for voices, probably helped by the fact that he is a singer himself; he was at one time a tenor with the prestigious State Choir Latvia. Here, a selection of his music is performed by the two highly accomplished choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Houston.

The principal offering is Mass of the Eternal Flame which was commissioned to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Robert Simpson as Canon for Music at the cathedral. It’s scored for SATB choir, brass quintet, timpani and organ. A while ago, Ēriks Ešenvalds had a residency of two years at Trinity College, Cambridge, at the instigation of Stephen Layton who was at that time the Director of Music. It was a fruitful association; Ešenvalds wrote several pieces for the Trinity choir to sing and record. I was intrigued, though, by a comment of Layton’s which Geoffrey Silver quotes in his valuable booklet notes. Layton described Ešenvalds as a “compositional chameleon [who] takes pride in writing music that is tailored to the musician tasked with realizing it”. Silver goes on to assert that Mass of the Eternal Flame “is not a Mass written for Cambridge, England. The scale is large, the horizons wide, and key phrases have simply epic proportions”. As I listened, I came to realise the perceptive nature of that comment and how well it chimes with Stephen Layton’s thought.

The Mass, which does not include a setting of the Creed, is sung in Latin. The Kyrie is bold and expansive, both in terms of the choral writing and the way the instrumental parts are conceived. Though it has its big moments, the Gloria strikes me as basically prayerful and reflective. Broad melodic lines are a conspicuous feature of the choral writing and the movement culminates in an emphatic series of Amens, which are aptly described by Geoffrey Silver as being “in glorious technicolour”. The Sanctus and Benedictus are combined in a single, thematically linked movement. Here, a key feature at several points is a soprano solo; this is taken by a member of the choir, Michelle Girardot, who makes a very favourable impression. The music is warm and radiant. Like all the preceding movements, the Agnus Dei is strongly melodic. The music is beautiful but this does not preclude passages where the tone is more urgent. A very slight curiosity is that as far as I can tell, though Ešenvalds sets the words ‘Miserere nobis’ on multiple occasions, I don’t think he sets ‘Dona nobis pacem’ once.

Apparently, Mass of the Eternal Flame is the first Mass setting that Ēriks Ešenvalds has composed; I hope it will not be the last. The music is unfailingly attractive and suits the words very well. I should imagine it’s a pleasure to sing; that’s how it comes across here. The instrumental writing is excellent and very well judged; the various instruments add plenty of colour and interest but never distract from the importance of the vocal lines. The Cathedral Choir sings the piece with skill and evident commitment. I gather that Daryl Robinson, who was Organist at Christ Church Cathedral between 2017 and 2023 played a key role in the commissioning of this work so it’s good that he took part in this recording; he makes a very important contribution, as do the members of Paragon Brass.

There follows a selection of shorter pieces by Ešenvalds. Some of these are sung by the Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral, an ensemble of young female singers. Stars was originally composed for mixed choir in 2011 but in 2014 the composer produced two alternative versions, for all-male and upper voice choirs. To the best of my recollection, I’ve only heard the mixed choir scoring before; here, it’s given in the SSSAAA version. All iterations of the score include the participation of tuned water-filled glasses, which parts are played by members of the choir. The sound produced by these glasses gives a very special ambience to the piece. The Treble Choir sings it very well. They’re also on duty for O Salutaris Hostia. This unaccompanied motet is probably my favourite Ešenvalds piece, not least on account of the carolling pair of solo soprano voices which are such a feature of the piece. I’m familiar with the 2009 version of the piece for SATB choir. Though it’s not mentioned in the booklet, what’s performed here is the original version for upper voices. It’s very well done and the two soloists, Joanna Wilson and Lilliana Baker sing their challenging parts with assurance and purity of tone. I retain a slight preference for the SATB version but this performance will disappoint no one.

Lux Æterna is an a cappella setting of words from the Requiem Mass. It’s aptly described in the booklet as a “lush depiction of light and eternity”. The Cathedral Choir makes a fine job of it. I also enjoyed their rendition of another unaccompanied piece, Salutation. This is a setting of some lines by Rabindranath Tagore. Ešenvalds’ lovely music complements the words beautifully.  

Music by the Canadian organist and composer Rachel Laurin (1961-2023) completes the disc. I confess both this composer and her music were previously unknown to me. Apparently, she wrote only a few choral pieces. Dedisti Domine is one of those pieces. It’s sung in Latin by SATB choir with organ accompaniment. The piece is attractively melodious. On this occasion the organ part is played by Thomas Marvel who succeeded Daryl Robinson as Organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Houston in 2023.

Although I can’t see that it’s stated in the booklet, I assume that Daryl Robinson is at the organ console for Diptych; that would be logical because Rachel Laurin wrote it for him. At Robinson’s suggestion the work was composed in such a way that it could be performed complete as a recital item or, alternatively, that the two elements could each have a separate function, as opening and closing Voluntaries in a liturgical context. I’ve listened to Diptych as an entity but it’s clear that the two movements will work very well as independent items. The first piece, Bucolico has, as its title suggests, a pastoral feel to it. For the most part the music is fairly quiet. The thematic foundation is the hymn ‘How shall I sing that Majesty’. The hymn tune first appears at 0:59 and thereafter Laurin weaves in references to it throughout the music in a very inventive way. The second piece is marked Con fuoco. Rachel Laurin’s programme note implies that ‘How shall I sing that Majesty’ plays a part here as well, though I have to confess that if I’ve interpreted her note correctly, I don’t find the melody as easy to spot. This movement is an extrovert display piece which calls upon the full resources of the organ; it also requires significant energy and virtuosity from the organist, which is amply supplied here. Diptych is an impressive composition which here receives a very fine performance.

The booklet includes a full specification of the organ of The Church of St John the Divine, Houston. The instrument was built by Orgues Létourneau of Quebec; it’s the firm’s Opus 97, which was completed, I think, in 2006. From the specification it appears to be a mighty instrument (I’ve read online that it has five manuals, 8,361 pipes in 144 ranks, with 113 stops). It certainly sounds very handsome on this CD, especially in the Laurin piece.    

I enjoyed this CD very much. It contains excellent, attractive music and the two highly accomplished choirs acquit themselves very well indeed, as do the various instrumentalists. The recorded sound is excellent. Admirers of the music of Ēriks Ešenvalds should seek out this disc, not least for the premiere recording of the Mass of the Eternal Flame.

John Quinn

Availability: Acis Productions

Contents
Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977)
Mass of the Eternal Flame (2022)
Lux Æterna (2017)
Stars (2011/2014)
The Heavens’ Flock (2014)
O Salutaris Hostia
Salutation (2017)
Who can sail without the wind (2014)
Rachel Laurin (1961-2023)
Dedisti Domine, Op 85
Diptych (Diptyque), Op 107 (2021)