For those unaware, Award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel adds to his impressive catalogue of large-scale liturgical works with a double-bill featuring his Mass and Te Deum, composed concurrently and completed in 2022.

As with previous works – including Requiem, and the seven-hour long oratorio The Gospel According to Mark – Chris’ spirituality infuses his music with melancholy and meditative qualities.

Haunting intimacy, a predilection for chant-like melodies and allusions to Medieval music, and plangent orchestral colors, give these two new sacred works a feeling of timelessness.

Listeners will recognize Chris’ penchant for unusual combinations of instruments – a quartet from the oboe family in both works, with the lesser heard oboe d’amore and bass oboe alongside oboe and cor anglais; and a pair of Wagner tubas in the Mass.

Mass:
1. I. Kyrie (Andante) 2.27 2. II. Gloria (Brightly) 2.53 3. III. Domine Deus (Andante) 3.05 4. IV. Credo (Adagio) 10.04 5. V. Sanctus (Solemn) 2.19 6. VI. Benedictus (Solemn) 2.19 7. VII. Agnus Dei (Lento) 2.44)

This magnificently hued new recording opens on Mass, and the stimulating Kyrie (Andante), the galvanic Gloria (Brightly) and the empowering Domine Deus (Andante) and they are in turn followed by the stoically charged Credo (Adagio), the enthralling Sanctus (Solemn), rounding out on the absorbin Benedictus (Solemn) and the impassioned Agnus Dei (Lento).

Easter Oratorio, BMV 249 and the sophisticated Sinfonia, the elegant Adagio and the stirring Duetto e Coro: Kommt, eilet und laufet; Duetto: Komm, gehet und eilet (1st-2nd versions), and then we get brought forth the emboldened Recitativo (SATB): O kalter Männer Sinn!, the flirtatious Aria (Soprano): Seele, deine Spezereien, the fearless Recitativo (ATB): Hier ist die Gruft, the flourishing Aria (Tenor): Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer, the harmoniously sculpted Recitativo (SA): Indessen seufzen wir, rounding out on the strong Aria (Alto): Saget, saget mir geschwinde, the mighty Recitativo (Bass): Wir sind erfreut and the energetic Chorus: Preis und Dank.

Te Deum:
8. I. Te Deum laudamus (Andante) 9.39 9. II. Tu Rex gloriae (Andante) 5.33 10. III. Salvum fac populum tuum (Andante con moto) 4.02 11. IV. Miserere nostri (Grave) 6.08)

Recorded on the 17th, and 28th–30th of June and July 4th, 8th, 9th 2024, at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, Canada, along next is Te Deum, which opens on the languishing laudamus (Andante), the elegantly endearing Tu Rex gloriae (Andante), the stirring Salvum fac populum tuum (Andante con moto), closing on the grandiosely sculpted Miserere nostri (Grave).

Official Purchase Link

www.christophernickel.com