Classical Candor: Four Views of the Holy (CD Reviews)

Mar 5, 2026

Four Views of the Holy (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Each of the four recordings reviewed below is of music expressing religious faith. Although the music on all four recordings seeks to express religious faith rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the means of musical expression take decidedly different forms, from quiet contemplation to joyous jubilation.

Arvo Pärt: And I Heard a Voice... Pärt: Nunc dimittis; O Holy Father Nicholas; Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen; *Für Jan van Eyck; Kleine Litanei; And I heard a voice… Vox Clamantis; Jaan-Eik Tulve, conductor; *Ene Salumäe, organ. ECM New Series 2780

Those readers who follow Classical Candor on a regular basis (thank you!) may recall that we recently reviewed a DG release from the young Latvian pianist Georgjis Osokins of piano music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who celebrated his 90^th birthday on September 11, 2025 (you can find that review here). But Pärt is more celebrated for his choral compositions, the majority of which center on religious themes and have a sound which evokes feelings of reverence and spirituality. We have also reviewed several choral recordings of Pärt’s music in the past, including a Harmonia Mundi release from 2020 (you can find that review here), a BR Klassik release from 2021 (you can find that review here), and a 2023 ECM release that also includes some works for orchestra (which you can find here). As you can no doubt infer from the titles listed above, this latest release on ECM is suffused with a sense of the holy from start to finish. Founded by conductor Jaan-Eik Tulve in 1996, the Estonian vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis is composed of twelve singers who share a passion for early polyphony and contemporary music, and here they sound just right giving voice to Pärt’s compositions – small enough to bring clarity, but large enough to bring weight. Recorded in Haapsula Cathedral in Estonia, the transparent sound quality allows the listener to get lost in the music. The liner notes discuss the works and include the texts, plus several photographs. It’s a beautiful release.

Radiant Dawn. Alec Roth (b. 1948): *Night Prayer; Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585): O nata lux de lumine; Eleanor Daley (b. 1955): Grandmother Moon; Deborah Pritchard (b. 1977): *The Light Thereof; Sir James MacMillan (b.1959): O Radiant Dawn; Tallis: *Dum transisset Sabbatum; Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): O gloriosissimi; Roxanna Panufnik: (b.1968): Hearken; Robert White (1538-1574): *Christe, qui lux es dies II; Richard Barnard (b.1977): *Aura; Judith Bingham (b. 1952): Enter Ghost; Owain Park (b.1993): Sommernacht; Joseph Rheinberger 1839-1901): Abenlied; MacMillan: *In splendoribus sanctorum; Geoffrey Burgon (1931-2010): *Nunc dimittis. The Gesualdo Six (Guy James, Alasdair Austin, countertenor; Joseph Wicks, Josh Cooter, tenor; Michael Craddock, baritone; Owain Park, bass); Owain Park, conductor; with *Matilda Lloyd, trumpet. Hyperion CDA68665

When I received this album for review, my immediate assumption was that it was a 21^st-century version of an ECM release titled Officium (ECM 1525) from 1994 that featured the vocal quartet The Hilliard Ensemble (David James, countertenor; Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor; John Potter, tenor; Gordon Jones, baritone) accompanied by famed jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek improvising on his horn as the ensemble sang sacred texts in a monastery, a recording that caught the attention of the general public through radio play and went on to become an unlikely best seller. However, beyond the obvious difference of trumpet rather than saxophone, Radiant Dawn also differs from Officium in that Matilda Lloyd plays a less prominent role than did Jan Garbarek, appearing as she does on fewer than half the tracks; moreover, when she does appear, her trumpet is sometimes not as prominent a part of the musical tapestry as was Garbarek’s saxophone. On the tracks Enter Ghost by Judith Bingham and In splendoribus sanctorum by James MacMillan, however, her trumpet stands front and center. The variety of composers included means that there is no single musical style or textual message to be found here; however, the majority of the tracks are rooted in religion and ritual, and as the liner notes proclaim, “plainchant threads this programme together – sometimes finely woven into the structural framework, and at other times as a fragment of the composer’s imagination.” As usual with with Hyperion, the liner notes are excellent and include texts. Warmly recommended for fans of vocal music.

Joel Ross: Gospel Music. Ross: Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris); Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); Protoevangelium (The First Gospel); Hostile; The Shadowlands; Nevertheless; Word for Word; Repentance; The Sacred Place; A Little Love Goes a Long Way; Frank Schoen: *Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ; Betty King Jackson: **Calvary; Ross: ***The Giver; To the Throne (The Mercy Seat); Be Patient; The New Man; ****Now and Forevermore. Joel Ross, vibraphone, celeste, glockenspiel, drums; mellotron; Josh Johnson, alto saxophone; Maria Grand, tenor saxophone; Jeremy Corren, piano; Kanoa Mendenhall, bass; Jeremy Dutton, bass; with *Laura Bibbs, vocals; *Geoff Gallante, piano; **Ehep Nkwelle, vocals; ***Andy Lewis, vocals, guitar; ****Brandee Younger, Harp; ****Laura Bibbs, flugelhorn; ****Austin White, synthesizers. Blue Note 006022488058292

This past spring I was fortunate enough to catch Joel Ross’s Good Vibes in concert. The band – the same sextet that form the nucleus here – played nonstop for more than an hour in one continuous stream, musical phrases appearing, getting passed around among the group, disappearing, perhaps to reappear later in a subtly different form or tempo (you can read more about their performance here). The title of the album and the titles of its tracks might well lead many potential listeners to expect Gospel Music to be a collection of church music – hymns, spirituals, and such. Rest assured, friends, this album is a jazz album, not a collection of jazzified instrumental covers of hymn tunes. But that’s not to say it’s not spiritually oriented. According to Ross in the March 2026 issue of the jazz magazine Downbeat, “the album represents nothing less than a musical trip through the Holy Bible.” Ross’s liner notes present a spiritual thought for each of the 17 tracks, along with references to specific Bible verses. But the spirit I hear in the opening track, Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris), is the spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach, who seems to be hovering invisibly over Ross’s shoulder as he plays (you can watch a video of the group performing "Wisdom Is Eternal” here). While Wisdom has a fairly measured, Bach-like feel, Ross and his fellow players are also capable of a more frenetic – although still disciplined – groove, as on the energetic track Hostile (you can watch the band perform "Hostile" here). There are a few tracks with vocals that lean more toward a genuine gospel music feeling, but the underlying jazz element is still there. All in all, Gospel Music is a compelling witness to the power of music to express human striving for something beyond human imperfection.

Ron Carter and Ricky Dillard: Sweet, Sweet Spirit. Clara H. Scott: Open My Eyes (1895); F.M. Bartlett: Everybody Will Be Happy (1921); Francis Jane Crosby: Pass Me Not (1868); W.R. Stevens: Farther Along (1927); Traditional: Just a Closer Walk with Thee; Charles Austin Miles; In the Garden (1912); Cleavant Derricks: Just a Litte Talk with Jesus (1937); Will I. Thompson: Softly and Tenderly (1880); Robert S. Arnold: No Tears in Heaven (1935); Doris Akers: Sweet, Sweet Spirit (1962) [all songs arranged by Ronald L. Carter, Sr., and Ricky Dillard]. Motown Gospel/Capitol/Blue Note 603488384759

Ron Carter (b. 1937) is a legend in the world of jazz. Perhaps best known for being the anchor of the legendary Miles Davis Quintet (Miles Davis, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, double bass; Tony Wiiliams, drums), he has appeared on more than 2,200(!) recordings throughout his career – jazz, folk, rock, R&B, hip-hop, big band, soundtracks, crooners, poets – and is still actively touring today with his Foursight jazz quartet at the age of 88. Ricky Dillard (b. 1965) is an American gospel songwriter, singer, and choir director. The album is intended as a tribute to Ron Carter’s mother, the late Mrs. Willie O. Carter. Her favorite hymns were often sung in the Carter household, and late in her life, when she was in an assisted living facility, Ron recorded arrangements of ten of her favorite hymns he had made for his upright bass so that she could enjoy them during her final days. To give those beloved hymns a new dimension and share them with a wider audience, Carter turned to Dillard; together, the pair crafted arrangements combining the voices of the choir with Carter’s bass lines. The end result is highly energetic praise music sung with sincerity and devotion. You can see a video of Carter, Dillard, and choir performing the hymn Pass Me Not (by following this link). If you’ve never encountered gospel music before, you’re in for quite a treat. My only quibble about this release is the way the liner notes are printed – teeny-tiny font, low-contrast, virtually unreadable. Other than that, Sweet, Sweet Spirit is sweet indeed.

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John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For nearly 30 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2024 Honda CRV Sport L Hybrid, I stream music from my phone through its adequate but hardly outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through a Roku Streambar Pro system (soundbar plus four surround speakers and a 10" sealed subwoofer) that has surprisingly nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence and reasonable price. Finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker and a pair of Google Pro Earbuds for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technologies that enable us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.

Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

Mar 5, 2026

Four Views of the Holy (CD Reviews)

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"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa