BRUCKNER Ecce Sacerdos Magnus
Michael Stenov and the Cantores Carmeli of the Carmelite Church of Linz

Guest curator, Bob Lee

I hope someday to hear this stunning Bruckner motet live. The majestic granite-like opening is incredibly impressive, but what completely blows me away are the ensuing four soaring iterations of the words “ideo jurejurando,” each one a mighty stepping stone ushering the soul to an ecstatic vision of the Godhead… It’s incredible! Bruckner’s habit of repeating his ideas works perfectly here, so we get to hear this amazing sequence three times.

The performance I’ve chosen has its quirks. The chorus is not flatteringly filmed, there are a couple of trombone bobbles, and at the third repeat of “ideo jurejurando” the chorus momentarily stumbles. But wow, their hearts are in this! Despite the momentary lapses, I have never heard this piece sung on recording to the heights of rapture it attains here, and the acoustics of the church are ideally captured. There are other plusses: seeing the organist playing with postcards of his favorite saints propped up behind the keyboard; watching the motet being performed in the kind of Austrian High Baroque church Bruckner knew and composed the piece for; and that the performance takes place in what was basically Bruckner’s home town of Linz, Austria.

– Bob Lee

Text and translation.