Reviews

Steeped like all his work since the Eighties in plainsong and the techniques of Dufay, Ockeghem and other medieval composers, Arvo Pärt’s organ music responds to the carefully chosen sequence of Gregorian chant on this collection, and vice versa. Simple yet sublime patterns of rhythm and interval speak to one another across the many centuries, as the composer’s own voice reflects without pastiche the spirit of the chant as temporal medium for the eternal word. The dual identity of ancient and modern is perceived at several levels. In the final item, the multimovement organ piece Annum per annum becomes a symbol for the Ordinary of the Mass, its sections interleaved with Gregorian settings of the Sursum corda and Preface. This pattern is reflected in the overall structure of the programme, shaped by a sequence of Mass Propers between which other organ pieces serve as moments of spiritual and stylistic reflection. Recorded in the clear acoustic of Tallinn’s St Mary’s Cathedral, Vox Clamantis’s singing is sustained and unanimous in the melismatic chant of the Offertory, and of faultless intonation in a recitation from Isaiah, the mixed intervals of its organum perfectly marrying the worlds of plainsong and Pärt.
– Nicholas Williams, BBC Music Magazine, March 2003


The intense and focused performance of Vox Clamantis, not to mention its polished vocal and sound culture, is unquestionably a rarity in the Estonian music life.
– Marju Riisikamp, Muusika, March 2006


The liturgical mass, in the church, late in the evening of June 30^th, with participation of Gregorian choir Vox Clamantis, left a fervent and mind-opening feeling. Here were melodic profiles and performers of another kind altogether, and a music leading to silence and inward meditation.
– Johannes Jürisson, Sirp, 6 July 2001


The concert showed how much their common work has polished the unity of the singers, and with it the fluidity of the melodic lines. The polyphony, which sparkled at occasions amidst monody, was also uncommonly clean – especially the difficult fourths and fifths. Soloists also made clear that Great Possibilities hide in monody and vocal culture. I think of Erik Salumäe, whose extensive solo parts made great impression, even near the very pleasant voices of Taniel Kirikal or counter-tenor Risto Joost.
– Evi Arujärv, Postimees, 30 June 2001


One should mention also the prior performance of introit “Gaudeamus”, sung by Vox Clamantis, which sounded marvelously fresh and fluid.
– Igor Garshnek, Sirp, 24 August 2001


It was an excellent idea to associate Gregorian ensemble Vox Clamantis to this performance of the “Requiem”. The sober monodic tunes grounded the mind and contrasted with Mozart’s music.
The insertion of Gregorian pieces had perhaps an overall influence on the performance of the “Requiem”. Clear articulation in the choir voices, and slight elasticity, precise but ascetic accents in the overall dramatic organization, general soberness of sound – everything held the same temperance mark.
– Evi Arujärv, Postimees, 28 August 1999


Vox Clamantis, the Festival’s co- (and main) performer, showed a clear and constant strive towards free and smoothly fluid vocal phrases. Fortunately, the choir does not exaggerate the ascetic side, but relies also on the elegance of the voices and the resources of dynamics.
– Evi Arujärv, Postimees, 7 August 1999


The Gregorian pieces sung between the parts of Mozart’s “Requiem” made the performance even more intemporal. One of the climax points came precisely from Vox Clamantis – the solo Prefatio. The contrast between the performance of the “Requiem” by choir and orchestra and the monodic pieces by Vox Clamantis was extremely powerful.
– Anneli Remme, Eesti Ekspress, 2 September 1999


The singers of Vox Clamantis allowed us to have part in the unforgettable beauty of the meditation carried by the language of Gregorian chant. Vocal technique was superlative. Phrases and melodic ornaments were performed without the slightest hardness. Interpretation was at the same time very concentrated and totally natural.
– Sven Erik Tandberg, Tønsbergs Blad, 22 May 1999


Direct, frank, natural… Their singing seems to flow and melt into unity.
– Ouest-France, 29 March 1999

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JAAN-EIK TULVE: STELLA MATUTINA
Vox Clamantis: Weekend Guitar Trio
MIRARE MIR064 80'
Recorded in the Church of the Transfiguration in Tallinn, Stella Matutina is a Marian devotion that joins the ancient and traditional, in singing as well as words, with modern styles of interpretation in a combination that is intense and so moving as at times to be at only just short of disturbing. Tulve has studied Gregorian chant profoundly, in particular at Solesmes, and in this work he blends traditional liturgical music, performed by the Vox Clamantis vocal ensemble, with an excitingly varied range of sounds from the curiously titled Weekend Guitar Trio. Employing the whole gamut of modern techniques, and not forgetting some older ones, the instrumentalists add their commentary to a sequence of psalms, Ave Maris Stella and the Loreto Litany. Sometimes silent, often discreetly hushed, they also burst out, creating what, to use Haydn's term, might perhaps be called the music of the spheres. This work is yet further testimony to the inventiveness of modern religious composers from the Baltic. CNS