Jeremy Beck (b. 1960)
Requiem (2019)
Coro Volante
Cincinnati String Ensemble / Brett Scott
rec. 2022, The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Cincinnati, USA
Latin text & English translation included
Acis APL54131 [58]

Prior to receiving this disc for review I’m afraid I knew nothing of this composer or his music. The biographical information about him in the booklet is brief so I did a bit of internet research. I learned that he studied music at a number of prestigious universities in the USA, after which he pursued a career teaching in several colleges and universities. Unusually, though, he later pivoted from musical academic life in order to study law, obtaining a law degree from Brandeis School of Law in 2007. Since then, he has pursued a dual career; he continues to compose but he also practices as an attorney in Louisville, Kentucky, where he has an entertainment law practice, specialising in copyright, trademarks and contracts.

Though his music is new to me I see that several of my colleagues have written appreciative reviews of recordings of his works. Hubert Culot and Glyn Pursglove admired a disc entitled ‘Pause and feel and hark’ as long ago as 2006, while Mark Sebastian Jordan wrote positively about a varied collection of works in 2009; both of these discs were issued on the Innova label. A comment that Mark made caught my eye. Referencing a piece that Beck composed in 1981, he said that the piece in question indicated that “Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today.” It’s also worth looking out appraisals by my former colleague Byzantion of chamber music by Beck on the same label (review ~ review). Most recently, in 2021, Jonathan Woolf reviewed another Beck disc from Innova entitled ‘By Moonlight’. 

Writing in the booklet, Beck says that in composing his Requiem he was especially conscious of the sacred choral music of Arvo Pärt and of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir. He goes on to say this: “These two composers somehow found modern musical languages that were purposefully subdued, yet ever powerful and moving in their seeming restraint”. He adds that his Requiem “is without dedication, but is of its time”.

The work is scored for choir and string orchestra. I haven’t seen a score but I suspect that the choir is basically SATB, though I think, based on listening, that there may be at least some divisions during the course of the work; the fact that the choir listing in the booklet divides each vocal part into firsts and seconds may support that thinking. Coro Volante consists of 24 singers, with six voices in each section.

Beck has set the Latin Mass for the Dead; unlike some composers of Requiems he hasn’t felt the need to interpolate other words, such as poetry. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, prior to listening; would this be one of those Requiem settings, so frequently encountered these days, which, taking their cue from Fauré and Duruflé, primarily strike a consolatory note? Perhaps the fact that, unlike those two French masters, Beck sets the ‘Dies irae’ in its entirety should have given me a clue. Very broadly speaking, Beck’s score includes a good deal of dramatic writing and seems less concerned with consolation of the living.

In the opening movement, ‘Requiem and Kyrie’, the choral writing contains lots of extended intertwining lines which unfold quite slowly. The music is intense but in a fairly intimate way. The music is tonal and accessible, as is the case throughout the work. In this movement I had the impression that the orchestral parts were less prominent than proved to be the case elsewhere in the work. The ‘Kyrie’ follows without a break; this is a strong plea for mercy and the pulse is quicker. At the end of the movement Beck returns to the words ‘Requiem aeternam’ which he sets in a subdued fashion. The movement concludes quietly with a lovely and rather unexpected chord on the word ‘Amen’.

The ‘Dies irae’ follows; it is divided into seven sections, each one of which is separately tracked. These seven sections contain a lot of music which is dark and dramatic. The dramatic music makes a strong impression in its own right but the tone is such that when Beck allows himself to relax somewhat – in accordance with the text – the effect of that relaxation is heightened. Such an episode occurs in the ‘Ingemisco’, where the music (in which the men initially take the lead) is warmer and more lyrical than much of what we’ve heard up to now. That said, even when Beck is writing in such a fashion, he succeeds in not compromising the overall intensity. The ‘Lacrymosa’ is set to strong, vigorous music and I must admit I was slightly surprised when this tone of voice was carried over into the setting of the words ‘Pie Jesu’; that’s somewhat unusual in my experience, but it shows the originality of Beck’s conception. Right at the end, Beck departs from the ‘Dies irae’ text by returning to the words ‘Requiem aeternam’ and reprising the music that was heard at the end of the first movement. After so much dramatic writing I think this is an interesting idea, suggesting that all passion has been spent.

The ’Domine Jesu Christe’ movement includes a lot of vigorous contrapuntal writing which the performers project strongly; the mood is somewhat calmer at ‘Hostias’. The ‘Sanctus’ is spacious, though the setting of ‘Hosanna’ has greater energy. This movement is, to my ears, rather less severe than much of the music that has preceded it. I very much like Beck’s approach to the ‘Agnus Dei’ which opens with an attractive, lyrical melody for the tenors, who are eventually joined by the basses. Throughout the movement, the male voices are to the fore. This is easily the most relaxed and, for me, the more appealing movement in the work. 

Jeremy Beck’s Requiem is a very original composition. I have to say that, as a subjective reaction, I find much of it to be somewhat severe in tone; I haven’t detected much consolation in the writing, though others may disagree. Perhaps it’s for that reason that I was not greatly moved by the work, though I certainly admired it.

The performance of this Requiem is a fine one. The singers of Coro Volante are clearly a most accomplished ensemble. I should imagine that this is a challenging score to sing but they deliver it with great conviction and skill. They are well supported by the Cincinnati String Ensemble, a group formed for this project. Brett Scott conducts with evident commitment, obtaining an incisive, powerful performance.

Producer Douglas Knehans and engineer David Yost have recorded the performance expertly.

John Quinn