Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen

Morten Lauridsen has been a professor of composition at the USC Thornton School of Music for four decades, but is primarily known as a composer, particularly of richly harmonic choral pieces set to sacred Latin texts. Michael Stillwater's biographical profile features extended excerpts from conversations with Lauridsen, many conducted at his retreat on Waldron Island off the Washington state coast, where the solitude provides an atmosphere that Lauridsen finds most conducive to his work. Also included are snippets from such compositions as Lux Aeterna and O Magnum Mysterium, both in rehearsal and in final performance by the San Francisco Choral Society and the University of Aberdeen Choral Society, as well as enthusiastic assessments of Lauridsen's music from friends and colleagues—poet Dana Gioia, composer Alex Shapiro, conductor Robert Geary, and composer-conductor Paul Mealor. Shining Night carries a decidedly reverential air, which reflects both Lauridsen's habit of speaking in gently meditative tones and the lushly ecstatic character of his compositions, with their echoes of Gregorian chant and the choral works of English composers such as Elgar. Presented in both the full-length version and a 56-minute abridged edition, extras include the featurette “Universality of Song,” and comments from singers. Recommended for larger music collections, this is a strong optional purchase elsewhere. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)