Westminster Cathedral Choir & James O'Donnell - Kodály & Janáček: Masses (2000)

To the average secular humanist, Zoltan Kodaly's Missa Brevis can be a bewildering experience. It's an erratic expanse of music, ranging from deep-throated organ runs to angelic boys-choir arrangements--all over, one might say, God's green earth. The familiar "Gloria in excelsis Deo," sung solemnly by a solo male voice, blossoms instantly into full-bodied polyphony; the brief but elaborate organ works that bookend the mass proper threaten to smother its memory. Pairing Kodaly with Leos Janacek makes more sense as concept album than as seamless listening experience. Both wrote church music in the early 20th century, but the differences between these works are more striking than are their similarities. Janacek's vocal settings are highly sophisticated, concerned less with the specific words of God than with their haunting spirit. He favors shifting vocal parts, in contrast with Kodaly's formal rounds; when Janacek's voices do align, it's for stark dramatic effect. The choir is remarkable in its enunciation and ensemble, but the volume levels on this recording vary so widely as to unnecessarily complicate the selection of an appropriate listening level. Paul Wingfield's opinionated liner notes remind us that the Lord's work is fraught with human ego. -- Marc Weidenbaum