Hymn to the Virgin

Thomas Aquinas writes in the Summa Theologica: "Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound." The quotation most aptly describes the repertoire on the Norwegian chamber choir Schola Cantorum's recording of hymns to Mary, the Mother of God, in which tranquillity, eternity and ‘bursting forth into sound’ are encountered in many different guises. The composers represented here have often chosen to allow their music to evolve in stable structures and remain within static harmonic spaces even when the music becomes expressive and dramatic: Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Duruflé, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Martin Ødegaard, Kjell Mørk Karlsen, Anton Bruckner, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arvo Pärt, Ola Gjeilo, Andrew Smith and Trond Kverno.