CD: Martin: Mass; Songs for Ariel; Messiaen: Cinq Rechants; O Sacrum Convivium: RIAS Chamber Choir/ Reuss (original) (raw)

The only connection between Olivier Messiaen and Frank Martin I can think of is that Stockhausen studied with both of them. Messiaen was a devout Catholic, Martin a staunch Calvinist, and for the sleeve notes to call them the two most important religious composers of the 20th century (Elgar? Stravinsky?) is going a bit far.

Yet Martin's unaccompanied Mass, first performed in 1963, is a compelling, austere piece, gloriously sung here by the RIAS choir from Berlin. And his settings of Ariel's songs from the Tempest are shapely miniatures, just a bit winsome at times. The restraint of both works, though, makes Messiaen's Cinq Rechants seem gloriously unbuttoned, even erotic, one might say.