Mass of the Dreaming

It is remarkable that 2016 brought the first recording by an Australian choir devoted entirely to Australian sacred choral music. This disc fills that long gap with newly commissioned and recent works.

Brisbane Chamber Choir choir
Graeme Morton director

Paul Stanhope composer
Joseph Twist composer
Keren Terpstra composer
Matthew Orlovich composer
Andrew Schultz composer
Stephen Leek composer
Nigel Butterley composer
Ross Edwards composer

Much of the programme was written for the Brisbane Chamber Choir. Ross Edwards' Mass of the Dreaming stands out as the largest and most absorbing score here, a work already set to join the core of Australian choral repertoire.

The choir sings with skill and passion under Graeme Morton. Cover art was also a choir commission: Githa Pilbrow's Cathedral Light, inspired by Sydney's 2016 Vivid! festival, frames the release with quiet radiance.

Reviews

At first hearing, the 10 pieces on this album, billed as “the first recording of Australian sacred choral music to be recorded by an Australian choir”, sound remarkably similar. It’s the sort of glorious sound we have come to expect from the English cathedral tradition: mellifluous, serene, glowing, ruminative and restorative. It’s also the signature sound of this impressive choir, another jewel in Brisbane’s lustrous choral crown. They sing in the rich resonance of St John’s Cathedral, where conductor Graeme Morton has been director of music for many years. This recording captures the reverberant glow of the cathedral and the texts, mostly Latin and liturgical in origin. Much of the music was commissioned by the choir, including the Mass of the Dreaming (2009) by Ross Edwards. More contemplation than celebration, the composer admits, this is a heartfelt and deeply moving work that deserves to be taken up by choirs the world over. Surprisingly, the most advanced-sounding work on the album is also the oldest, the Exultate Dominum (1961) by the 26-year-old Nigel Butterley, its Stravinskian throbbing delivered in perfect rhythmic unison by the 20 young choristers. Pairs of liturgical settings by Andrew Schultz and Stephen Leek call for novel touches, including Tibetan overtone singing. The works of younger composers Joseph Twist and Keren Terpstra indicate talents still in progress, whereas short pieces by Paul Stanhope and Matthew Orlovich are deeply satisfying in their originality as well as their functionality. This is a recording that rewards repeated listening. You don’t need to be a believer in a supreme being. It’s enough to believe in the extraordinary power of music to calm and purify the mind.

— Vincent Plush, The Australian

Artists

Brisbane Chamber Choir

Graeme Morton

Graeme Morton shapes choral programmes that move from late medieval and Renaissance canons to contemporary Australian sacred works, drawing a serene, resonant sound from chamber choirs in cathedral acoustic.

Tracks

Ubi Caritas Paul Stanhope 6:10
Lamentation of Jeremiah Joseph Twist 7:14
Arise My Love, My Fair One Keren Terpstra 4:08
Communion of Reparation Matthew Orlovich 7:18
Magnificat Andrew Schultz 7:48
Nunc Dimittis Andrew Schultz 5:28
Sanctus Stephen Leek 3:21
Agnus Dei Stephen Leek 4:53
Exultate Domino Nigel Butterley 2:35

Mass of the Dreaming Ross Edwards

Kyrie 2:16
Gloria 4:21
Sanctus 3:40
Benedictus 2:46
Agnus Dei 3:37

Performers

Brisbane Chamber Choir · choir
Graeme Morton · director

Composers

Nigel Butterley

Nigel Butterley (1935–2022) was an Australian composer and pianist. His catalogue ranges from radiophonic and choral scores to chamber, vocal and orchestral works, and as a pianist he was closely identified with contemporary music and the prepared piano.

Ross Edwards

One of Australia's best known and most performed composers, Ross Edwards lives and works in Sydney. His commitment to music as a positive and regenerative force has led him to explore beyond the confines of Western art music.

Andrew Schultz

Andrew Schultz, a graduate of the Universities of Queensland and London, has received numerous awards and commissions for chamber, orchestral and vocal works, and is Emeritus Professor of Music at UNSW Sydney.

Stephen Leek

Stephen Leek writes choral music built for real voices in real rooms: liturgical settings with unexpected colour, carols, and pieces shaped by long work with youth, community and professional choirs across Australia and abroad.

Matthew Orlovich

Matthew Orlovich's sacred choral writing is deeply satisfying in originality and function, while chamber works such as Whirled Music spin classical, Latin, African and jazz colours into taut, vivid forms.

Paul Stanhope

Paul Stanhope writes chamber and choral music charged by landscape and light: sea, rainforest, dawn and open space. His scores for voice, strings and choir balance precision with verve, and he has shaped that sound from the podium as well as the page.

Keren Terpstra

Keren Terpstra is an Australian composer of contemporary sacred choral music. Her short works have been written for, and recorded by, Brisbane chamber choirs.

Joseph Twist

Joseph Twist composes across choral, orchestral, stage and screen music. Sacred settings and concert works sit alongside film and television scores, with a steady focus on voices, text and liturgical colour.

Where to listen

Mass of the Dreaming is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.

Mass of the Dreaming is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.