This is a reissue of a CD originally released in 1994, but if you’re a choral music fan and you missed it then, you owe it to yourself to find it now. One reason is for the excellent performances by Gloriae Dei Cantores, whose full-bodied yet carefully balanced ensemble sound is perfect for these “romantic” works. Another is for the repertoire, most of which isn’t available elsewhere among the meager assortment of Rheinberger discs in the current catalog. Finally, the music itself, particularly the three masses, is first-rate–not necessarily of great masterpiece caliber, but certainly worthy of repeated listening and frequent performance by today’s finer church, community, and professional choirs. Heaven knows, we’ve had our share of Brahms, Schubert, and Bruckner–why not indulge in the music of one of the 19th century’s more idiomatically assured, stylistically well-mannered, and technically polished choral composers?
While Rheinberger offers nothing ground-breaking or earth-shaking, and he’s not a particularly great melodist, he does command a recognizable style in his religious music, appropriately respectful of the text while not hesitating to cloak it in rich and abundant chromatic harmonic and melodic structures. He proves most effective in his leaner-textured works–the four-part F major mass for male voices and the three-part mass for female voices; the six-part motets that open the program are just too dense, the layers too thickly meshed to clearly reveal what’s really going on, either musically or textually. Consequently, the sound quality in these pieces appears muddy and the balances are unclear.
But the male-voice mass is a gem, showing Rheinberger’s affinity for the registers and tone qualities inherent in TTBB scoring–and the Gloriae Dei Cantores men take to the piece with an impressive enthusiasm and commitment. The ending of the Gloria is an especially satisfying display of joyous male-ensemble sound, a highlight of the disc. And there are many other highlights, including the opening and closing of the female-voice mass, with those gorgeous-toned altos making their profound and irresistibly beautiful statements. The organ adds a vital dimension to the power of the male- and female-voice masses, and it is exceptionally well recorded and played (by David Chalmers). The E-flat major mass for a cappella double choir makes a solid conclusion to this program–a welcome and important return to the catalog and an effective advocate for an unfairly neglected composer.
