Ståle Kleiberg’s Mass for the Modern Man deals with pertinent questions surrounding the role of Christian faith in contemporary society and, by association, the relevance of the ‘genre’ that is the concert Mass. Much like Britten’s War Requiem, Kleiberg’s work juxtaposes the liturgical texts of the Mass Ordinary with contemporary poetry that spins off and sometimes rails against those texts. These ‘stories’ by Jessica Gordon – stories of grief, displacement and loss of faith – may stand in contrast to the liturgy of the Mass but as a result, Kleiberg’s setting of that liturgy becomes purposefully less sure of itself, ‘not an unambiguous affirmation’, in the composer’s own words.

The piece is scored for two soloists, choir and small orchestra, and Eivind Gullberg Jensen certainly has some talent on board: the unfailingly bright-voiced Mari Eriksmoen, the expressive Johannes Weisser (though this scale of piece isn’t ideal for him) and the professional, newly formed Trondheim Vocal Ensemble in addition to members of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. All are arranged in a circle around 2L’s microphones, and the booklet offers typically in-depth information about the recording process.

And the music? Perhaps 2L’s HD surround sound reveals elements that I have missed in conventional stereo. As it is, I find Kleiberg’s endlessly repeating loops and simple, stepwise counterpoint constricting. The feeling of an improvised organ preamble pervades. The vocal writing – with many instances of one-syllable-per-uniform-length-note – can feel foursquare and divorced from verbal and poetic meaning. Kleiberg certainly captures the sense of ambiguity he refers to but it comes at the expense of pretty much anything else.