The Secret Mass: Choral Works by Frank Martin & Bohuslav Martinů Danish National Vocal Ensemble & Marcus Creed

• Frank Martin (1890 - 1974): Mass for Double Choir:
• 1 I. Kyrie 05:09
• 2 II. Gloria 06:08
• 3 III. Credo 06:10
• 4 IV. Sanctus 04:50
• 5 V. Agnus Dei 05:00
• Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959): 4 Songs of the Virgin Mary, H. 235:
• 6 No. 1, The Annunciation 01:59
• 7 No. 2, A Dream 02:05
• 8 No. 3, Our Lady's Breakfast 03:22
• 9 No. 4, The Virgin Mary's Picture 04:36
• Frank Martin (1890 - 1974): Songs of Ariel:
• 10 No. 1, Come unto These Yellow Sands 01:34
• 11 No. 2, Full Fathom Five 03:30
• 12 No. 3, Before You Can Say Come and Go 01:03
• 13 No. 4, You Are Three Men of Sin 04:25
• 14 No. 5, Where the Bee Sucks, There Suck I 01:02
• Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959):
• 15 Romance of the Dandelions, H. 364 12:42
• Total Runtime 01:03:35

Info for The Secret Mass: Choral Works by Frank Martin & Bohuslav Martinů

The centerpiece of this album is Martin's towering masterwork, the Mass for Double Choir. Originally completed in 1926, Martin did not allow the work to be performed until 1963. After its premiere he explained: 'I felt that a personal expression of religious belief should remain secret and hidden from public opinion.' Thankfully Martin decided to share his secret; his Mass has become one of the 20th century's most powerful works composed for a cappella choir. For Swiss-born Martin, his musical breakthrough came early in life when he heard a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. His musical language draws on a wide variety of inuences, including Renaissance polyphony, Hindemithian extended tonality and traces of Schoenberg's twelve-tone system, but above all, Bach. In contrast, the urbane, cosmopolitan Martinu was a stylistic buttery, and a bit of a late bloomer. One can easily hear traces of impressionism and Stravinskian neoclassicism throughout his mature style, but in his nest moments, Martinu embraces the love of folklore that inspired his elder countryman, Leos Janacek.

"The Romance of the Dandelions is a thing of beauty, and while possibly more difficult to programme, you have a soprano of the quality of Klaudia Kidon, and you are surely guaranteed success." (Gramophone)

"The singing is exceptional—this choir, as we’ve heard on earlier recordings, is one of the world’s finest, and here the singers are constantly challenged with prickly technical details and are offered many chances—perfectly realized—to deliver those ringing, resonant harmonic gestures that all choral singers live for. Their Czech pronunciation/enunciation is, how shall we say it, rather “soft”—the delicious richness of those special consonants tends to be rounded off." (ClassicsToday)

Hanna-Maria Strand, alto
Klaudia Kidon, soprano
Emil Lykke, tenor
Daniel Åberg, drums
Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Marcus Creed, conductor

Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Since its debut in 2007, the Danish National Vocal Ensemble’s sound has been called transparent, bright and pure, and the ensemble sings with a technical precision that has placed it among the top tier vocal ensembles in Europe.

The Danish National Vocal Ensemble’s repertoire spans nearly 500 years of music, from Renaissance polyphony to the latest avantgarde explorations and even folk songs, bringing the essence of the famous Nordic choral style to perfection.

Each season the Danish National Vocal Ensemble appears in both a cappella concerts and with The Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The group also appears with other ensembles, including the baroque orchestra Concerto Copenhagen and international orchestras like the Radio Symphony Orchestra from Hamburg, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic.

In 2014 Marcus Creed succeeded Swedish-born Olof Boman and Stephen Layton as the ensemble’s chief conductor and principal guest conductor respectively. DNVE received both an ECHO Klassik Award, nominations for 2 Grammy’s, a Gramophone Award and for the Danish Radio P2 Prize. Their CD L’amour et la foi received in June 2015 Diapason d’Or.

Marcus Creed
The English conductor, Marcus Creed, began his studies at King's College in Cambridge, where he had the opportunity to sing in the famed King's College Choir. Further studies took him to Christ Church in Oxford and the Guildhall School in London.

Marcus Creed began living in Berlin in 1976 (or 1977). Stations along his way have been the Deutsche Oper Berlin (where he worked as opera coach and choir director), Hochschule der Kunste (lecturer on song), as well as the Gruppe Neue Musik and the Scharoun Ensemble (pianist and conductor). In 1987 he was appointed artistic director of the RIAS-Kammerchor, which won numerous international awards under his direction (including the Edison Award, the Diapason D'Or and the Cannes Classical Award). His work together with the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Concerto Koln formed an important part of his concert activities.

Marcus Creed has been invited by several early music festivals. He gave performances of Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232), Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and his cycle of Handel oratorios (Solomon, Messiah, Jephtha, Israel in Egypt, Alexander's Feast, Theodora, etc.) set an exemplary criterion in Germany. He conducts Belshazzar at the Gottingen Handel Festival in 1996. In the performance of new music with the RIAS-Kammerchor, he is also closely associated with the Berlin Scharoun Ensemble as a pianist and conductor. He regularly appears at the Berlin Festwochen as well as at festivals like the Warsaw Spring, Wien Modern, the Salzburg Festspielen, the Venice Biennale and at festivals in Montreux, Edinburgh, Lucerne and Innsbruck.

In partnership with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker Marcus Creed conducted Stockhausen's orchestral Gruppen. He has worked with other orchestras like the Berlin Staatskapelle and the Berliner Symphoniker. In 1998, he accepted a call to take up the position of professor of conducting at the Musikhochschule in Koln. Since January 1, 2003, he has been artistic director of the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart.

Booklet for The Secret Mass: Choral Works by Frank Martin & Bohuslav Martinů