ブルックナー: モテット集

ブルックナーの祈り
大聖堂の美しい響きで聴くモテット集

ブルックナーと言えばなんといっても交響曲ですが、それに次いで存在感のある曲種が宗教的な声楽曲です。敬虔なカトリックであった作曲者の「祈り」がストレートに表れているという点では交響曲以上とも言えましょう。

11世紀に建てられたセント・オールバンズ大聖堂での録音で、非常に優れた音響がたのしめます。女声ではなく少年合唱を起用した演奏。オルガン曲も収録しています。
キングインターナショナル

A few of Anton Bruckners Latin motets are performed often enough by choirs, but theyre generally neglected even though Bruckner offered them with great sincerity and wrote them during all phases of his career. This reading by the St. Albans Cathedral Choir contains the favorites, like Locus iste, WAB 23, but also some motets that listeners wont have heard for a while. The most novel aspect is that these pieces are usually sung by mixed choirs, although there is some evidence that Bruckner had a choir with boys, like the St. Albans group, in mind. That may have been what drew listeners and put this album on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. Another fresh factor is the ambiance of the cathedral, which Bruckner surely never experienced but which just as surely would have delighted him; its spaces are big enough to absorb Bruckners waves of sound without muddying them, and the small First Hand Records label exploits it beautifully. Best of all is the high-level work by the 36-voice choir and its director, Andrew Lucas. This is not generally considered one of Britains top-drawer cathedral choirs, but that may change with this release as the young singers navigate the pieces with dense textures (up to seven parts) while maintaining an accurate, limpid sound in the simpler pieces. This is a distinctive and satisfying Bruckner choral recording. ~ James Manheim