There’s a lot of excellent new choral music out there, but you’re not likely to hear it unless you’re a chorister (or just in love with one). Morten Lauridsen is one present-day composer who has distinguished himself in this medium with little mainstream recognition; now Whitacre is another. Lauridsen and Whitacre are stylistic cousins. Both favor tonal, diatonic writing, and shimmering, luminous textures. Both also favor intense, direct expression and, when possible, simplicity (which is not to be confused with simple-mindedness). These works would be as appropriate in an Anglican cathedral as they would be in an intimate recital hall.

Another similarity is their good taste in texts. The works on the present CD have been set to texts by Octavio Paz, e. e. cummings, Federico García Lorca, and others. Although Whitacre seems to have a spiritual bent, the only sacred text on this CD is When David Heard, a 15-minute setting of a verse from II Samuel. Its highly emotional tone (David weeping over his slain son Absalom) elicits a similarly emotional response from Whitacre.

Another striking setting is based on Paz’s Cloudburst. In a little more than eight minutes, Whitacre uses voice (and some percussion, presumably played by the singers) to depict the literally awesome, transcendental power of a torrential rain. Here, the composer departs somewhat from traditional modes of choral expression in favor of more sonoristic expression.

Whitacre’s work isn’t groundbreakingly original, but it is very, very good—impressive for any composer, regardless of his age and background, and astonishing given Whitacre’s late blooming as a classical composer. I hope his success increases.

This music is lovingly performed by the Brigham Young University Singers, a disciplined group comprised of slightly more than 40 singers. They are sensitive to the poetry in the texts and in the music itself, and they acquit themselves impressively on this CD. The engineering brings them up close—and some of the climaxes are a little coarse—but otherwise this is a CD as lovely to hear as it is to think about.

Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine