O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM - Parts & Score

Grade 4.0
Duration 5.00
 
You can view several performances of this work ( both the Choral & Band versions) on "youtube.com"
 
Composer Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) is most noted for his six vocal cycles—Les Chansons des Roses, Madrigali, Mid-Winter Songs, Cuatro Canciones, A Winter Come, and Lux Aeterna—and his series of a cappella motets which are regularly performed by distinguished ensembles and vocal artists throughout the world. A compact disc of his compositions entitled “Lauridsen — Lux Aeterna (which includes a recording of 0 Magnum Mysterium by the Los Angeles Master Choral conducted by Paul Salamunovich) was nominated for a Grammy award in 1998. A long-time faculty member of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, Mr. Lauridsen chaired the Composition Department there from 1990-2002 and was Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001.
 
Morten Lauridsen’s choral setting of “0 Magnum Mysterium” (“0 Great Mystery”) has become one of the world’s most perfomed and recorded compositions since its 1994 premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich. About his setting, Morten Lauridsen writes, “For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful 0 Magnum Mysterium text with its depiction of the birth of the new-born King amongst the lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God’s grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy.” H. Robert Reynolds has arranged the symphonic wind version of this popular work with the approval and appreciation of the composer.