Two things characterize each of these 16 choral works: rich textures and full-bodied harmonies, both of which more or less define the justly famous, signature sound of the 200-plus male voices of the Turtle Creek Chorale. The themes are upbeat and hopeful, from Eric Helmuth’s Everyone Sang (set to a Siegfried Sassoon poem) and Stephen Paulus’ Loving-Kindness to John Rutter’s Choral Fanfare and Ernest Charles’ When I have sung my songs for you.
Choral fans certainly will notice the now-ubiquitous Dirait-on (here with strings, piano, and oboe) and O magnum mysterium by Morten Lauridsen, both of which benefit from the chorale’s warm resonance and rich, well-blended tone quality, especially in the lower-register voices. But they also suffer somewhat from a very large group’s relatively narrow range of expressive nuance and limited flexibility in tempo and dynamics–which is true for the program in general. But this is an ensemble that makes its mark with sheer size and the abundant, beautiful, shimmering sound it creates as well as through the always intelligently chosen repertoire, which is invariably delivered with precision, clear diction, sincerity, and joy. Fine examples of these qualities can be immediately heard in Eric Whitacre’s Lux aurumque, in Timothy Seelig’s arrangement of Schubert’s “Ständchen”, and in Eric Helmuth’s lovely Shakespeare setting, How sweet the moonlight.
I’m not wild about the recording perspective, which gives odd prominence to the instruments on some tracks and really pumps up the resonance in Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center. But these are well-thought-out, deliberate choices by the recording’s producers, consistent with past productions, and fans of this celebrated choir will not object.
