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01. Mass for Double Choir I. Kyrie
02. Mass for Double Choir II. Gloria
03. Mass for Double Choir III. Credo
04. Mass for Double Choir IV. Sanctus
05. Mass for Double Choir V. Agnus Dei
06. 4 Songs of the Virgin Mary, H. 235 No. 1, The Annunciation
07. 4 Songs of the Virgin Mary, H. 235 No. 2, A Dream
08. 4 Songs of the Virgin Mary, H. 235 No. 3, Our Lady’s Breakfast
09. 4 Songs of the Virgin Mary, H. 235 No. 4, The Virgin Mary’s Picture
10. Songs of Ariel No. 1, Come unto These Yellow Sands
11. Songs of Ariel No. 2, Full Fathom Five
12. Songs of Ariel No. 3, Before You Can Say Come and Go
13. Songs of Ariel No. 4, You Are Three Men of Sin
14. Songs of Ariel No. 5, Where the Bee Sucks, There Suck I
15. Romance of the Dandelions, H. 364

Composers
Martin, Frank (1890-1974)
Martinu, Bohuslav (1890-1959)

The centrepiece of this album is Martin’s towering masterwork, the Mass for Double Choir. Originally completed in 1926, Martin did not allow the work to be performed until 1963. After its premiere he explained ‘I felt that a personal expression of religious belief should remain secret and hidden from public opinion.’ Thankfully Martin decided to share his secret; his Mass has become one of the 20th century’s most powerful works composed for a cappella choir. For Swiss-born Martin, his musical breakthrough came early in life when he heard a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. His musical language draws on a wide variety of in?uences, including Renaissance polyphony, Hindemithian extended tonality and traces of Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system, but above all, Bach. In contrast, the urbane, cosmopolitan Martinu was a stylistic butter?y, and a bit of a late bloomer. One can easily hear traces of impressionism and Stravinskian neoclassicism throughout his mature style, but in his ?nest moments, Martinu embraces the love of folklore that inspired his elder countryman, Leos Janacek.