Celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of Franz Liszt, Gloriæ Dei Cantores presents an overview of his sacred choral music, including the Missa Choralis, settings of the Pater noster and Ave maris stella, and other works. Faith of My Heart reveals a lesser-known, deeply spiritual side of Franz Liszt.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“It's rare to find a recorded program like this, so for specialists and fans of late-Romantic church music, it's a welcome addition to the catalog.”
Classics Today
“These are rewarding performances from Gloriæ Dei Cantores. Their belief in Liszt's music is evident in every measure. And they certainly must be commended for their vocal control in pieces where harmony is often at odds with expectation...
The recording ... is an intimate affair. There is a generous sense of ambience here, and in louder passages the sound swells to envelope you as you listen ... in SACD surround mode. Stimulating – an excellent way to experience the special sound world Liszt creates in his choral music.”
Audiophile Audition
Listen to music samples
1. Pater Noster | 2. Ave Maria | 3. Christus ist geboren |
| 4. Ave maris stella | 5. Rosario | 6. Qui seminant in lacrimis |
| 7. Missa Choralis: Kyrie | 8. Missa Choralis: Gloria | 9. Missa Choralis: Credo |
| 10. Missa Choralis: Sanctus/Benedictus | 11. Missa Choralis: Agnus Dei | 12. Nun danket alle Gott |
5 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews
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Well-balanced
This recording makes an early entry into the Liszt year. It is welcome because it shows two sides of the composer's religious music, the meditative and the exuberant. The choral sound, especially in the Mass, is bright, full ... and well-balanced.
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Warmly recommended
The singers of Gloriæ Dei Cantores have been praised on these pages for their virtues – their textural clarity, their balance, their intonation, their luminous tone quality, their sure sense of ensemble in a broad range of repertoire from Gregorian Chant through Bach on to the Romantics and the moderns. The familiar virtues are evident here. This ... selection samples Liszt's sacred choral music from what may be his earliest venture in the genre (Ave Maria I, which the current Grove dates from 1842) to one of his last (Qui seminant in lacrimis, 1884), from the radiantly simple (Pater Noster III) to the harmonically twisted (Qui seminant), from the intimate (the opening movements of Rosario) to the rousing (Nun danket alle Gott). But whatever the terms of the music, the group fulfills them, all the while offering limpidity without insipidity, expressivity without exaggeration ...
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This is a formidable program by any reckoning
This is a formidable program by any reckoning. Especially moving are his spiritually rapt Lord's Prayer, an Ave Maris Stella that makes excellent use of the organ, and a powerfully chromatic Qui Seminant in Lacrimis (All they that sow in grief and tears, in truth shall reap their harvest gladly) I admire the singing – gutsy performances of gutsy music. Liszt wasn't playing around here, and neither is anybody else ... As always with Gloriæ Dei Cantores, full notes, texts and translations in a handsomely designed booklet.
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Rewarding performances
These are rewarding performances from Gloriæ Dei Cantores. Their belief in Liszt's music is evident in every measure. And they certainly must be commended for their vocal control in pieces where harmony is often at odds with expectation... The recording ... is an intimate affair. There is a generous sense of ambience here, and in louder passages the sound swells to envelope you as you listen ... in SACD surround mode. Stimulating – an excellent way to experience the special sound world Liszt creates in his choral music.
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It's rare to find a recorded program like this
It's rare to find a recorded program like this, so for specialists and fans of late-Romantic church music, it's a welcome addition to the catalog.
