This is the ‘official Millenium CD of the Vatican City, made “to celebrate the Holy Year 2000”’, and the recording, which carries the ‘endorsement and blessing’ of the Pope, will undoubtedly be an ecclesiastical hit. The choice of Myung-Whun Chung to direct four wholly different stylistic settings of the Te Deum was apt, for he is a very fine and versatile musician. However, one can’t help wondering what the Council of Trent would have made of Verdi’s dramatically operatic approach and indeed the powerful but at times ambivalent setting by Arvo Part, which are the highlights of the collection. The Charpentier, with its famous trumpet-led opening, begins jauntily, and textures are agreeably lightweight, even using modern instruments. The chorus are perhaps least at home here and the considerable resonance clouds their enunciation. The solo singing has an appealing simplicity, notably the tenor Declan Kelly’s ‘Te per orbem terrarum’ (though not all will take to his vibrato), and the soprano Elisabetta Scano’s ‘Te ergo quaesumus’ is very beautifully sung; both are accompanied with tasteful continuo. All in all, this is a good mainstream account, and if no match for William Christie, very enjoyable.
The Mozart is straightforward, the ‘Sanctus’ pleasingly lively, and the closing fugue nicely balanced, but even more than the Charpentier it suffers from poor choral focus, with absolutely no bite. However, the opening of Verdi’s setting (from the Four Sacred Pieces) immediately brings a movingly sustained pianissimo, and the listener is conscious of being in a wholly different sound world. The full entry on the word ‘Sanctus’ is riveting. This is a deeply affecting performance of thrilling contrasts, with some truly lovely singing throughout. The balance of both chorus and orchestra (superb brass) is here more forward: indeed the sound is quite splendid, even if the words are still not crystal clear. Chung paces the music admirably and this account is nothing short of inspired, with a superb closing climax imbued with radiant passion, and the sound expands with demonstration amplitude and vividness.
Arvo Part supervised the recording of his own Te Deum, written in 1984-85 and revised in 1992, a large-scale setting (33 minutes) and one of his very finest works. Scored for three choruses (female, male and a richly mixed group) and strings, the composer uses three-dimensional spatial effects, and like the Verdi, the work depends a great deal on contrasting sonorities. Here the balance between choruses and orchestra is ideally managed, with the words at least reasonably clear. Opening evocatively to produce a haunting, slightly ambivalent ‘Sanctus’, the vocal writing is discursive, full of mystery as well as affirmation. It is interspersed by what often seem to be questing string ritornellos, sometimes sonorous, sometimes ethereal and delicate. Towards the end, and either side of the work’s great affirmative climax, the ethereal, melismatic style recalls plainsong, and the work ends in a tranquil serenity. In this superb performance, Chung holds the tension through the music’s ever-fluctuating moods at a consistently high level.
Overall, this well-conceived disc is very successful, but it is a pity that the earlier works could not have been recorded with a clearer focus.'