Paul Mealor's Stabat Mater“This is most deeply personal as I composed it as a means of climbing out of a very dark time in my life... Divided into four sections my setting of this powerful poem attempts to portray the journey from darkness, despair and suffering to light, rest and final, everlasting peace. The “Vatican” version of the text is used without any changes, but stanzas 3, 4 & 5 are omitted.” (Paul Mealor) Originally scored for piano and choir in 2008, the composer rescored it in 2013 for strings, harp and choir. This CD represents the US Midwest premiere of Mealor’s orchestral version which is his largest choral work to date. The harmonies, style and meaningful texts combine to produce a work which reaches the heart and soul of those who hear it. Paul Mealor is a composer worth watching as his music will be with us for many years to come.Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna"It was a natural thing for me to blend poetry and the human voice, which is the most wonderful and personal of all musical instruments. I ended up writing a great deal of choral music, and haven’t stopped." – Morten Lauridsen[To walk in the evergreen forests and along the waterways of the Pacific Northwest, as Morten Lauridsen loves to do, is to experience infinite variations of light. Clouds of gray loom in the skies, and deft rays of sunlight filter through the trees and touch on water with an ever-changing chiaroscuro effect. Walking here with poetry in his mind and music in his heart, Lauridsen finds inspiration for his compositions, luminous with inner radiance.Lauridsen composed the Requiem - Lux Aeterna in 1997, the year his mother died. She was the “muse” who introduced him to music, playing swing jazz and singing to him as a toddler. She also taught him to play the piano. The consolation for grief offered by Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna is often compared to that of Fauré’s Requiem and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, both works inspired by the deaths of the composers’ mothers. These works also have in common a deceptive simplicity, yet their capacity to touch the listener reveals mastery at expressing through music the depth of human emotion.The five movements of Lux Aeterna are based on various references to light from sacred Latin texts: perpetual light, light risen in the darkness, Redeemer-born light from light, light of the Holy Spirit, light of hearts, most blessed light, eternal light — all supporting an earthbound spirit seeking not only mercy, understanding, and consolation but also renewal.In expressing a human journey to reclaim intimacy with the inner life, Lauridsen seamlessly integrates the musical essence of ancient modes, Renaissance polyphony, Romanticism, and modern dissonance. This timelessness can bring home to the listener the recognition of his or her own mortal journey. Perhaps this embracing effect is a reason that Lux Aeterna is widely known to bring listeners to tears.Lauridsen uses the beginning and ending of the traditional Requiem Mass to open and close Lux Aeterna. The second movement, In Te, Domine, Speravi (Lord, I have hoped in you), opens with a chant from the hymn “Herliebster Jesu” (Dearest Jesus) published in a 1677 songbook, addressed to the trusted Lord, to whom is directed the gentle plea for mercy.The third movement, O Nata Lux (O light born from light), is the centerpiece from which all of the other references to light seem to emanate. The tempo changes are beautifully placed to linger on the interplay of voice parts in the style of Renaissance polyphony, creating a showpiece of a cappella choral singing.In Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit), voices soar to high notes on both the words lucis (light) and fletu (grief). This pairing serves as a bridge that brings together all who share the experience of grief. Unison singing at the phrase O lux beatissima (O most blessed light) encourages our hearts with the humble insight necessary to petition on behalf of those we have lost.The final movement, Agnus Dei – Lux Aeterna (Lamb of God, Eternal Light), begins with a long, whispered prayer on behalf of the dead, swells into full voice on the phrase lux aeterna, and ends with an optimistic Alleluia.The 1998 recording of Lux Aeterna by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, to whom the work is dedicated, along with their former conductor, Paul Salamunovich, who died in April, 2014, received a Grammy nomination — a deserved tribute to the exquisitely matched union of Lauridsen’s lush music with sacred texts, which serves as balm to our world-weary mortality.] – Carol TalbeckMorten Lauridsen (b. 1943) has long been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and was Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale when Lux Aeterna was written. He spends a great deal of time in solitude on his island retreat off the coast of Washington, inspired by nature’s beauty and sound. His music consists primarily of choral works, which have become a staple to choirs around the world. Of his seven vocal cycles and handful of a cappella motets, O Magnum Mysterium, Sure on this Shining Night, Dirait-on, and O Nata Lux (the center movement of Lux Aeterna) are by far his most popular.