The Voice of the Beloved
Frank Martin (1890-1974)
Mass for double choir a cappella (1922-6)
Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908-2002)
Le Cantique des Cantiques (1952)
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
O sacrum convivium (1937)
Netherlands Radio Choir/Benjamin Goodson
rec. 2024, Studio 1, Heuvellaan, Hilversum, The Netherlands
Texts included in French, Latin and English for the Daniel-Lesur and Messiaen only
Pentatone PTC5187402 [51]

The Netherlands Radio Choir is a professional body of just under sixty singers, the only such one in the Netherlands, and they have recorded a wide range of, often very difficult, repertoire. They have lovely voices, the sopranos especially, and sing with perfect intonation, rhythmic exactness and a real feeling for the words. Since 2020 their Chief Conductor has been Benjamin Goodson, who is British by birth but is now based in Amsterdam, and they have made several recordings together.

Here we hear them in three a cappella works from the French tradition. I say tradition, as Frank Martin was actually Swiss though in his later life he lived first in Amsterdam and later, for the remainder of his life, in Naarden. His Mass for double choir is an early work, but Martin held it back for forty years. Martin’s father was a Calvinist minister in Geneva, so writing a Mass, which is of course a Catholic rite, might have been a kind of rebellion. Martin wrote it without a commission to fulfil some inner need and said ‘I considered it be a matter between God and myself. I felt that a personal expression of religious belief should remain secret and hidden from public opinion.’ It is a beautiful work but not typical of the mature Martin: it hardly features the snappy rhythms and pungent harmonies that we find, for example, in the Petite Symphonie Concertante, or, for that matter, in his later religious pieces. Instead, there is the clear influence of plainchant, fine lyrical writing and some rich harmonies. It is, I should admit, a somewhat withdrawn and reserved work, but one well worth getting to know. Think of it instead as a more introverted companion to the near-contemporary Mass by Vaughan Williams.

Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur was a lifetime friend of Olivier Messiaen but never attained more than a local reputation, with this exception of this work, Le Cantique des Cantiques, which has been much admired and recorded. The text is mainly from the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible but also with passages from the New Testament and the missal. There are a number of solo passages and in one movement, Le songe, only the alto sings in French while the basses sing in Hebrew and the sopranos in Latin. The idiom is both tonal and modal, always euphonious and often erotic, as befits the subject. There is a great deal of rhythmic variety. It is, in short, a gorgeous work and well worth getting to know.

Finally, we have Messiaen’s one choral work for liturgical use, the motet O sacrum convivium, a contemplation of the blessed sacrament in words sometimes attributed to Thomas Aquinas. The hushed intensity of this short work never fails to move.

The performances here are as expert as one would expect from these forces. The recording is excellent, and the booklet has a useful essay, on which I have drawn, by Nigel Simeone. There are other recordings of all these works, but not in this combination, so if the programme attracts, do not hesitate.

Stephen Barber

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