A rich musical heritage and vibrant contemporary culture intersect in Catalunya in north-eastern Spain. Granados's long-lost masterpiece Song of the Stars is comparable to a virtuoso piano concerto with chorus and organ rather than orchestra, gloriously combining Romantic-Modernista poetry with post-Wagnerian harmonies. The internationally famous cellist Pau Casals also composed a small body of very beautiful music, including the deeply spiritual choral works on this disc. Morera's The Nightingale and Blancafort's Love Song are evocative of their Catalan texts, while Oltra's Echo and Prelude explore themes of memory and hope through images of nature.

Voices of Ascension evolved from a 1989 concert series of Church of the Ascension in NYC, when Dennis Keene directed the Ascension choir in a major music festival, 'Tribute to Durufle,' a retrospective of the French composer that drew international attention. The following year the group incorporated separately from the church as Voices of Ascension. The number of singers in the professional ensemble varies from 20 to 40, among the finest and most skilled ensemble singers and soloists in the country. Metropolitan Opera star Hei-Kyung Hong blesses the VOA with a lyric soprano voice of uncommon beauty and warmth. 15 selections; right from the beginning Randall Thompson's soaring a cappella 'Alleluia' and Mozart's 'Laudate Dominum' show off the amazing soprano voice of Hei-Kyung Hong. Two by Pablo Casals, 'Tota Pulchra' and 'Nigra Sum,' Felix Mendelsson's 'Hear My Prayer' and Durufle's 'Tu es Petrus' make it abundantly clear that we are in the presence of greatness. Nicolai Tolstiakov's 'Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda (Bless the Lord, O My Soul),' Tchaikovsky's 'Bazheni, yazhe izbral (How blessed are they),' Charles Villiers Stanford's 'Beati quorum via' and the final cut, Mendelssohn's 'Happy and blessed are they' leave us in stunned silence after listening to the angels. Some organ accompaniment. Amazing!

One of the finest (and most prolific) mixed choirs recording sacred music we have heard, NYC's exquisite Voices of Ascension turns their attention to Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, the most famous Italian composer of his day. Laid to rest in one of the side chapels of St. Peter's in Rome at his death in 1594, the plaque on his coffin is inscribed 'Prince of Music.' Included here are the 6-part 'Missa Papae Marcelli' and the 7th part, 'Agnus Dei II,' 8 'Motets and Offertories,' and bonus tracks 'Alma Redemptoris Mater,' 'Sicut cervus' and its second part, 'Sitivit anima mea.' The music is all a cappella, and to listen to any random movement, such as 'Credo,' 'Sanctus,' 'Tue es Petrus' or 'Peccantem me quotidie' is to hear the songs of angels, some of the most beautiful a cappella music ever written!

Organist and Choirmaster of the Church of the Ascension Dennis Keene has dedicated a large part of his career to the music of Maurice Durufle, having conducted all of the French composer's choral works in performance. Here are Durufle's finest sacred works, the 9 soaring, dramatic movements of 'Requiem, Op. 9,' 'Messe 'Cum Jubilo,' Op. 11,' and the lovely short piece, 'Notre Pere.' All orchestra-accompanied with some nice viola, violoncello, horn and harp solos. Vocal solos by Patricia Spence and Francois Le Roux are standouts. The Voices of Ascension is one of our favorite mixed choirs and 'Album' is a wonderful collection of works by the master 20th century sacred composer.

'Mysteries' is a very special collection of the Keene's and the Voices of Ascension's favorite pieces from many periods and countries having to do with Mary, mother of Jesus. Two of our favorites are two of the oldest pieces on the recording, the lovely a cappella 'Alma Redemptoris Mater' by Giovanni Palestrina and Tomas Luis de Victoria's classic 'Ave Maria.' Other favorites are Anton Bruckner's 'Gradual: Os Justi,' Gabriel Faure's 'Tantum Ergo,' which only grows more beautiful with repeated hearings, Schubert's 'Die Allmacht' and 'Psalm 23,' Pablo Casals' 'Eucaristica,' Charles Gounod's 'Ave Maria,' and Felix Mendelssohn's 'Psalm 43.' Some light accompaniment by harp, piano and organ. New York City's 38-strong, mixed-voice Voices of Ascension is one of our favorite choirs recording sacred music, and 'Mysteries' is an inspiring joy from the first cut to the last!

review pending

With this recording New York City's Voices of Ascension and Conductor Keene celebrate the 900th birthday of one of the most remarkable creative spirits of the Middle Ages, the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Although some musicians embellish Hildegard's single line chants with additional parts, the Voices of Ascension's approach is to present the inspired poetry and music of this mystic visionary 'pure,' without any contemporary additions. We are hearing, in these 14 haunting pieces, the Women of the Voices of Ascension, a mixed-voice choir on all their other excellent recordings. Soloists Kathy Theil, Michele Eaton, Alexandra Montano and Allessandra Visconti are particularly wonderful on cuts like 'O virga ac diadema,' 'Vos Flores Rosarum,' 'Et Ideo,' 'O Pastor animarum,''Caritas Abundat,' 'Ave, generosa' and 'O Jerusalem, aurea civitatus.' All beautiful, soaring a cappella. This is simple, powerful music that touches and speaks to us across more than 8 centuries, in a way that its composer could never have imagined.

The voices of Ascension sing new choral arrangements of favorite Kern songs - in styles ranging from swinging Browdway (I Won't Dance; Can't Help Singing) to a timeless classical tone (All The Things You Are; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes). Dennis Keene's talented singers are accompanied variously by orchestra, harp, and string quartet, leading to some surprising moments such as a solo oboe emerging from the orchestra in a poignant Long Ago and Far Away. There is also the beautiful a cappella singing listeners have come to expect from Voices of Ascension - as in the rich 8-part version of All The Things You Are.