James O'Donnell: Westminster Cathedral Choir - Martin: Mass; Pizzetti: Messa di Requiem

'One of the greatest a cappella works written this century'; so writes Gramophone's Marc Rochester in the sleeve note to this recording, and this is no exaggeration. Written in 1922, with a devastatingly effective Agnus Dei being added in 1926, Frank Martin's Mass for double choir is a truly wonderful work, combining intensely personal moments of religious contemplation with outbursts of overwhelming glory.Pizzetti's Messa di Requiem, also composed in 1922, is a work firmly steeped in the Gregorian tradition, Pizzetti weaving an intriguing twentieth-century web over the familiar tunes.Also included on this recording are Martin's Passacaille, the composer's only work for solo organ, and Pizzetti's De profundis, dedicated by way of apology to a colleague on whom Pizzetti had previously vented his infamous foul temper.