Zoltán Kodály

Jesus And The Traders

Jesus and the traders, a pillar of 20th-century a cappella choral music, tells the familiar story of Jesus and the money-changers. In addition to the harmonic complexity of the work - indeed, this is Kodály at his furthest out (not all that far; it's still strongly tonal) - there is a killer fugato as well as passages of rapid close canon, and the choir must sort it all out by itself. I've heard lots of performances, some by very good choirs indeed, but I've not heard anyone but Parkman bring out the essential roughness of the fugue while keeping the clarity of each part. If I hadn't heard it, I wouldn't have suspected it could be done. Furthermore, unisons are true unisons. There's absolutely no detectable variance in pitch from one singer to the other - so little, in fact, that one has a great deal of trouble telling how many singers might be sounding at any one time. Parkman and his ensemble raise the bar. (Steve Schwartz on the CD Kodály, Choral music, published by Chandos Records in 1999)