Mass of the Children
Beginning with the last piece on this CD, we have a brief Wedding Canticle, a graceful, lovely melody sung smoothly by the choir and underpinned by the odd but also gentle combination of flute and guitar. The middle work, Shadows, is a song cycle composed in 1979 and consisting of eight songs based on 16th- and 17th-century poems; the subject matter is sleep, death and dream-states. Baritone Jeremy Huw Williams colors the text well, and the guitar accompaniment is fluid and interesting, but the cycle is not particularly compelling. The Mass of the Children, however, which takes up most of the CD, is a beautiful, affecting work. It begins with a lively tune and moves at once into a well-blended "Kyrie"; the "Benedictus"  is rich and full, with both children's and adult's choirs joining together. The "Agnus Dei" incorporates William Blake's "The Lamb" into the usual text, with the kids' voices intoning it with charm, and the final "Dona nobis pacem" is warm and peaceful. This is a fine program, and even if the Song Cycle is not up to the standards set by the Mass and Canticle, there's still enough here that is superb, and the performances are excellent.--Robert Levine