I listened to both Lauridsen's Lux aeterna and this Tavener recording in the same day. The recording quality of the former was pristine, while the latter was not -- the live ambiance contributed echo, detail lost in the distance. And yet Tavener drew me firmly into his passionate, manic, syncretistic vortex -- mixing western and orthodox christian motifs and references to sufism and eastern spirituality. Through it all a constant drone, a basso profundo, anchored the overlapping waves of choral expressions and made me able to not only accomodate but understand his stochastic explosions of voices. The performance left me moved and breathless.
So back to Lux Aeterna by Lauridsen -- as a terrific example of what a well-recorded SACD can be it is right up on the top of my list. After being taken for a wild ride with Tavener, however, Lauridsen comes across as too safe, bringing to mind more of a SwingleSingers remix than of the band of angels with brimstone in their eyes that Tavener has conscripted to his cause. Somehow the SACD quality quibbles fade to the background, in fact the SACD serves to immerse you in the music in a way that helps you to forgive what you might not in stereo mix. More to the point, it is the music that comes through with power, conviction, indulgence, fear, hope, clarity, and invention. All the things that make life worth living....
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