I have a soft spot for the Motette recording of Vierne’s Messe solennelle. The sheer noise of organs and choirs pealing into Paris’s cavernous Sacre-Coeur with little hope of being recovered intact by the microphones, the breathtaking raggedness of the choirs and the general air of a dark, incense-laden church seems so utterly suited to the music that it strikes me as the epitome of authenticity. But Westminster Cathedral Choir perform this music as to the manner born and, aided by Hyperion’s innate ability to balance atmosphere and textural clarity perfectly, James O’Donnell’s sensitive musical judgement, and the Cathedral’s more transparent acoustic, we have here a performance which gives us the music and a tangible sense of occasion without any compromise.
In Saint-Sulpice, Paris (where all the works on this recording were first performed) the choir have their own organ to provide the kind of immediate support impossible from the Grande orgue glowering at the other end of the church. Both the Widor and Vierne Masses make highly effective use of this essentially functional arrangement. It’s not always easy to distinguish between the two organs on the Motette disc but in Westminster the contrast between them is gloriously vivid, aided by a closer recording focus for the smaller organ. We hear the antiphonal organ writing to its fullest effect and there is a magnificent spaciousness which enhances rather than obscures the occasional moments of musical intimacy.
The inclusion of a handful of short motets by Widor, Vierne and Marcel Dupre affords rare glimpses of these composers’ vocal writing (although all have prominent parts for organ). The ad hoc Hyperion Chorus of Baritones represent the “massed chorus of Seminarians” in the Widor pieces while Dupre’s “O salutaris hostia” from Op. 9 is so ravishingly beautiful that I’m surprised it has escaped the attention of most choirs: I doubt, however, whether any could match the sensitivity with which the Westminster choir sing this, and indeed everything, on this magnificent disc.'