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Review: Saint Louis Reflections
Laurence Vittes of Gramophone
October 1, 2024
The Saint Louis Chamber Chorus's eighth recording for Regent showcases 11 commissions from the past 15 years, all receiving their first recordings. They are deeply felt and often emotionally moving tributes for birthdays, deaths, holidays and other occasions. Although there is nothing particularly St Louis in style or content, there is a sense of community that nourishes them all.
While Dobrinka Tabakova's radiant Missa brevis and Magnus Williamson's quietly ecstatic Exaltabo are the most compelling works on the album, the most mysterious is Ivan Moody's haunting arrangement of Hildegard of Bingen's O viridissima virga, and Melissa Dunphy's optimistic We are the Music Makers could become the chorus's marching song. Charles Collins's gently consoling Joulupuu on rakennettu recounts the simple gifts of Christmas and Sasha Johnson Manning?s Christmas Bells, a carol for double choir, weaves the secular and the religious into a prayer for peace.
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