Timothy Corlis (b. 1972)
Immortality (2015)
O magnum mysterium (2004)
Missa Pax (2009
In paradisum (2007
Loveliest of trees (2007)
Ben Bolt-Martin (cello); James Campbell (clarinets); Michael Bloss (piano)
Edison Singers/Noel Edison
rec. 2024, Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, Guelph, Canada
Texts and translations supplied
Naxos 8.574629 [62]

The most important work in this collection of choral works by the Canadian composer and academic, Timothy Corlis, is the half-hour Missa Pax. Large passages of the work demonstrate a driving rhythmic life, frequently originating more in the piano accompaniment than in the choral parts. This contributes, for example, to a particularly rousing Sanctus and Hosanna, followed by a Benedictus whose implacable tread creates a certain calm. Liquid figures from the piano accompany the opening of the Agnus Dei, whose two-minute held D major chord, under a pensive clarinet solo and a semi-choir singing the Gloria Patri, brings the work to an imaginative and striking close. The music never strays far from tonality, and even the sometimes piquant diatonic dissonances associated with composers such as Morten Lauridsen, Ola Gjeilo or Eric Whitacre are rare.

The composer’s booklet note is unusually self-revelatory. He goes into detail about two conflicting facets of his life and beliefs: first, his childhood experiences as a chorister in the Anglican church; and later, as an active participant in demonstrations promoting social justice. This mass, he tells us, is an attempt ‘to reconcile certain aspects of my church tradition with a healthy criticism waged against it’. This listener hears something like anger in the climactic passage of the Gloria. Is this a manifestation of the tension between church and activism of which Corlis writes? Maybe, but in any event, it is easy to appreciate the work without knowledge of the background that seems to have inspired it.

Of the shorter works, Immortality sets a text by Sri Chinmoy, described in the booklet note as ‘a prolific and visionary Indian-born poet, composer and spiritual teacher’. The words are an assertion of the poet’s faith and unquestioning confidence in eternal life. It is a pensive text, until the final verse where the poet’s earthly life is evoked. ‘My eternal days are found in speeding time;/I play upon His Flute of rhapsody’, this final phrase set to a tricky, staccato rhythm that is passed from one section of the choir to another and repeated at length whilst calmer music is sung above it. ‘I dwell in an ocean of supreme release’ is also subjected to extensive repetition, surprising after the much simpler style of the opening, a series of chords allowing the text to be clearly heard.

The text of O magnum mysterium relates to the fact that the first witnesses to the birth of Christ were animals, thus revealing the humility and simplicity of the person and, by extension, of the event. The problem in creating a musical setting is that it is very short. Repetition is therefore essential, and different composers have tackled this problem in different ways. Corlis’s solution is to use the three words as a refrain, the score of which is printed in the booklet. It is disarmingly simple, so much so that it shouldn’t really work; yet it does, though perhaps only up to a point. If, like me, you feel the composer is pushing his luck with the multiple repetitions employed in Immortality you might feel the same here. The focus of the text is altered at the words ‘Beata Virgo’, prompting Corlis to refer to ‘the place of the divine feminine in the celebration of the birth of Christ.’ A solo cello, used and played with great sensitivity, adds to the appeal of this piece which, though calm, rises to quite a powerful climax.

In paradisum was composed to celebrate Earth Day, 22 April, 2007. The composer writes that paradise can be experienced on earth, ‘a place that when viewed from heavens, is a lonely and fragile oasis, teeming with creativity and life, amid the vastness of cold outer-space.’ The richness of the multiple voiced choral writing is enhanced by the piano accompaniment, as well as the clarinet part that weaves itself through the musical lines, both here and in the mass. A long, held note under piano and clarinet musings ushers in the choir of angels.

Loveliest of trees sets words by A E Housman that many listeners will know from the song by George Butterworth. A twenty year-old is concerned that, with only fifty or so years left, one should not waste them; instead, let us seek out and admire the ‘loveliest of trees’, the cherry. Corlis’s setting strays quite far from the simple tenderness of Butterworth. Dedicated to the memory of one of the composer’s friends, it employs a more advanced and wide-ranging harmonic palette than the other works on this disc, evident from the opening chords. The white Eastertide blossom provokes imitation of bells, preceding a gradual rise in tension for the remaining verses, almost angry once again, or, at least, fearful of the passing of time. This subsides, however, though without finding any real resolution or calm.

There are elements of this programme that are not quite memorable enough to transcend the composer’s resolute loyalty to diatonic means. Listeners will be appreciate it immediately, however, and it will be pleasant and satisfying to sing. Noel Edison and his choir have contributed to many Naxos discs, and the singing here is well up to their expected standard. The instrumental playing is very fine and the whole has been expertly recorded.

William Hedley

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