Heinrich Schütz’ mesterværk i en forrygende indspilning. Velsyngende Ars Nova har til lejligheden lagt a cappella-sangen på hylden og får i stedet hjælp fra Concerto Copenhagen og Sirius Viols.

Paul Hillier og kor svigter ikke vores forventninger, og så er Adam Riis et herligt bevis på at evangelister ikke behøver at ødelægge klangen i jagten på deklamatorisk formfuldendthed.

Four shorter vocal works performed by Ars Nova Copenhagen round out the disc. (...) The performances are warm and the recording rings. Here again, Lang's strategy of text stripped down to the bare essentials makes the (often religious) underpinnings of the works more universal yet renders their message exponentially more potent. In all cases, plain-speaking human voices stretch out a hand to listeners and the music pulls them—deeply, completely, without gratuitous fanfare—through these collected moments of incredible pain and amazing beauty.

Paul Hillier, ein profunder Kenner dieser Musik, hat mit dem knapp 20-köpfigen Ensemble Ars Nova Copenhagen ein ideales Medium zur Umsetzung seiner Vision gefunden: Die nötige Klangpracht bietet das Ensemble ebenso wie die unabdingbare filigrane Leichtigkeit; schlicht und ebenmäßig genug für die Gregorianik vermögen die Männer wie die Frauen allemal zu singen. Eine wahre Freude, ohne Abstriche!

There is still the incessant rhythmic drive inherent in the score, but this is offset against the singing which often has a 'legato' quality for phrases which suggest a more 'staccato' articulation. About 8 minutes into track 3, there is an absolutely bewitching moment when the C pulsation ceases and the voices are left unaccompanied creating a most haunting 'still-point' in this otherwise 'busy' piece.

Per Flügelschlag ins Totenreich

Es reibt sich dafür umso mehr in großflächigen Dissonanzen, imitatorischen Verschiebungen quer durch die Stimmen, Glissandi in alle Himmelsrichtungen, äußert sich mitunter in Flüstern, Klatschen, Rezitieren, empörtem Schreien. Durchaus auch eine Herausforderung für die Interpreten. Vollkommen vibratolos, gläsern, intonatorisch absolut naturrein und zum Sterben schön wandeln die zwölf Sängerinnen und Sänger durch dieses Tal.

The Danish vocal group Ars Nova, under the baton of Paul Hillier and with the percussion ensemble Percurama, perform masterpieces of minimalism by the Californian composer Terry Riley. They generate a deeply mesmeric ambience as the note C, played on one of eight marimbas, pulses through slower-moving improvisations at six hits a second or 20,000 an hour. The arm aches thinking about it. Sung chords form and reform, swell and die, like shifting sands as the vocalists, using not words but “sacred syllables”, take up new motifs in order. Each performance is different but this one achieves a gripping, transcendent beauty. (Rick Jones) 

Paul Hillier is without a doubt one of today’s best (if not the best) directors of this kind of music. And the Danish vocal group Ars Nova is a sure thing with this repertoire. (...) Summing up, this record is a delight to listen to with the booklet in hand. We point out the completeness of the performance, strong in its cadences, with powerful bass and clear trebles, capable of conjuring up all the expressivity of the text. The latter is sung with good diction, independence of melodic lines and at the same time, a tight feel. It is a CD featuring the latest state-of-the-art polyphony the market has to offer.