Musical Moments #45
"One of the few living composers whom I would call great."
Dana Gioia, (poet and past chair, National Endowment for the Arts)
Lux Aeterna Morton Laurdisen (excerpted from Movement 5)
Morton Laurdisen is a national treasure as one of the most performed composers of our time. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and has a long and distinguished career as a composer and professor.
Two pieces by Laurdisen served as my introduction to his music: his elegant “Dirait-on” and his contemplative “O Magnum Mysterium.” Tomás Victoria’s 16th century setting of “O Magnum Mysterium” had been my favorite until I heard Laurdisen’s version and was immediately won over.
Laurdisen’s music is carefully crafted, written for the ages, and much of it exudes a palatable spiritualty. His Lux Aeterna is no exception, and I fervently believe that centuries from now singers will still know and love performing these works whose lush harmonic choices imbed themselves in the soul.
Terry Teachout in his The Wall Street Journal article “The Best Composer You Have Never Heard Of,” beautifully describes Laurdisen’s work. Teachout writes, “The musical language in which he embodies this simple belief is conservative in the best and most creative sense of the word. His sacred music is unabashedly, even fearlessly tonal, and his chiming harmonies serve as underpinning for gently swaying melodic lines that leave no doubt of his love for medieval plainchant. Nothing about his music is "experimental: It is direct, heartfelt and as sweetly austere as the luminous sound of church bells at night.” You can read the full article at
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204555904577169562197268518
The Bach Festival Society invited Laurdisen to share in an evening of his music, and that appearance confirmed him as an unpretentious, kind-hearted, thoughtful person who loves to share his musical passion. We discovered then that when you hear his work, you know the person.
The excerpt we are offering is from the last movement of Lux Aeterna, and its text is found in the communion part of the traditional requiem mass.
The translated text reads:
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord,
In the company of thy saints forever and ever;
for thou art merciful. Alleluia. Amen.
Today’s selection comes from a 2012 performance; and believing that all of us could use the spiritual salve this music so freely applies, we have programmed the entire work for this coming April.
—John V. Sinclair
"There are too many things out there that are away from goodness. We need to focus on those things that ennoble us, that enrich us."
Morton Laurdisen