Argento: Te Deum & The Mask of Night

The discreet composer Dominick Argento, who passed away in 2019, has long been somehow neglected by the classical audience despite official recognition – he was awarded a Pulitzer Price for a cycle of songs after Virginia Woolf. His music, mixing various composing styles from twelve-tone technique to traditional tonality is, however, very stimulating and accessible. This recording by Philip Brunelle includes The Mask of the Night, a set of orchestral variations inspired by Shakespeare, and a powerful Te Deum subtitled Verba Domini cum verbis populis, which mixes the usual Latin setting of the Te Deum with glosses in middle English.