Composer: Franz Liszt
Performer: Thomas Trotter, Corydon Singers
Conductor: Matthew Best
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67199
Release: 2000
Size: 243 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Missa Choralis, S10
01. I. Kyrie
02. II. Gloria
03. III. Credo
04. IV. Sanctus
05. V. Benedictus
06. VI. Agnus Dei
Via Crucis (The 14 Stations of the Cross), S53
07. Introduction. Vexilla regis prodeunt
08. Station 01. Jesus is condemned to death
09. Station 02. Jesus takes up the Cross
10. Station 03. Jesus falls the first time
11. Station 04. Jesus meets his Blessed Mother
12. Station 05. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
13. Station 06. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
14. Station 07. Jesus falls the second time
15. Station 08. The women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus
16. Station 09. Jesus falls the third time
17. Station 10. Jesus is stripped of his clothes
18. Station 11. Jesus is nailed to the Cross
19. Station 12. Jesus dies on the Cross
20. Station 13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross
21. Station 14. Jesus is laid in the tomb
Liszt’s position as a composer for the Church has always been controversial. The paradox that the most modern composer of the age, the supporter of the revolutionary ideals of 1789, 1830 and 1848, ended up writing music for an institution regarded as a bastion of everything conservative and reactionary, has led to a questioning of Liszt’s motives. With the rapidly advancing secularization of culture, Liszt was seen as disillusioned, and his decision to take minor orders in 1865 was considered a startling about-turn for one so worldly. In fact, Liszt wrote sacred music with reform in mind. The dismal state of church music in the first half of the nineteenth century, when it was common to hear opera cabalettas sung to liturgical words, encouraged him to go back to plainsong and the music of Palestrina for inspiration. Composed in 1865, the year he took minor orders, the Missa Choralis embodies these twin elements. The influence of plainsong pervades the thematic material, albeit refocused through Liszt’s boldly original and expressively chromatic harmonic language. Via Crucis (1866-1878) is an extraordinary work. It is a devotion describing the journey of Christ carrying the Cross, divided into fourteen ‘stations’ or stages. Most Catholic churches have pictures or statuettes of these scenes along the walls of the nave, usually seven on each side. The devotion consists of meditations on each scene, usually in the form of prayers and singing. If the number of participants is not too large, they move around the church in a group, stopping at each station. This was what Liszt visualized when he composed the music, and in one of his most deeply personal works, he presents a series of radically expressionistic, intense miniatures.