Richard Toensing

" Magnificent... the composition transports listeners into a sacred space where contemplation of Christ's Passion takes on an entirely new dimension."
- Denver Catholic Register

"The liner notes to this setting of the Tenebrae services state that "in the program notes to the first performance of Book II, the composer refers to the entire work as 'a vast, three-movement choral symphony'." This three-disc set is indeed a vast work, one which requires intensive and repeated listening, for which one is richly rewarded. The three Nocturns for each of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are scored for six-part chorus, six soloists, double bass, piano, and metal percussion. The subtle interaction of singers and instruments can only be appreciated with careful listening; this is music for meditation and multiple experiences. Toensing worthily follows the tradition of Victoria, Ingegneri, and Gesualdo, with a voice that is clearly contemporary, yet to my ears timeless, in part because of its modal character. The vocal parts are demanding in range and in their consistently exposed character; yet David Shuler's singers sustain them flawlessly. The performance is sensitive and thoroughly convincing."
- Victor Hill, Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians.

"Toensing, Chair of the Composition Department at the University of Colorado, has composed three liturgical books that make for some mighty affecting listening. His idiom could remind you a little of Poulenc's Sept Repons with some Orff-like bells, sustained piano notes, and insistently syllabic word-pointing tossed in for good measure. But mostly, Toensing sounds like Toensing - dark, diatonic, austere, and starkly atmospheric. Maestro Shuler and his singers from New York City's St. Luke in the Fields do immense service to the composer... Eerie changes of vocal color abound, and the spirits of medieval and Renaissance antiquity are never far off... If you're looking for a compelling choral experience to help bring the Passion alive for you this year, you've found it here."
- Greenfield, The American Record Guide

"...Perhaps the most attention-grabbing vocal disc of the month is Richard Toensing's massive RESPONSORIA, which fills three North/South CDs."
- Frank J. Oteri, The New Music Box

" The intellectual meat of the disk is left to the first and last pieces. Angels by Richard Toensing is a virtuoso ensemble piece where the North/South Consonance Ensemble comes into its own. This is serious concert music for a large ensemble - nine players (including two percussion) - plus conductor. Angels is brim-full of textural ideas performed with precision and compelling musicianship. The bell-like effects, trills, repeated-note configurations and, in the last section, wonderfully sensitive treatment of Lutheran Choral tune - all these echo and re-echo in the listener's imagination long after the quiet ending fades away."
- IAWM Journal