The Washington Chorus’s energetic conductor took on yet another job this year, leading music at New York’s Trinity Church. He also released this disk of his own choral music, which is pleasant on the ear, if sometimes anodyne.

Canada’s dependably competent and expressive Elora Festival Singers pay glowing and heartfelt tribute to this very worthwhile music: no surprise, since Wachner remains a prominent fixture of the Canadian music scene as a professor at Montreal’s Magill University. The composer could hardly have asked for better champions. Naxos sees to its customary solid sound engineering, and Wachner’s own lucid notes grace the booklet…

To read the complete review, please visit American Record Guide online.

Not quite a household name, American composer/conductor Julian Wachner is now in his early 40s and has built himself a stylistic reputation for eclecticism. This recording by the Elora Festival Singers is an example of just how broad Wachner’s stylistic embrace can be. It is also another example of the artistically tenacious style that has become the hallmark of the EFS.

Because we most often associate a composer with an identifiable vocabulary or language, it’s a bit odd to find someone so stylistically diverse yet so secure in his writing. Wachner’s command of choral techniques and effects is solid and polished. The EFS’s ability to meet the exacting demands of this music makes this recording altogether remarkable.

…based on volume one of the Complete Choral Music (Naxos) by Julian Wachner (b. 1969), there is excellent work being done today. The Elora Festival Singers under Noel Edison sing like angels; they do complete justice to Wachner’s music. It has a touch of the aural voicings of Paert and Reich, but not in terms of style. Wachner uses the tang of modern harmonies as sound color. His music is declamatory or quiescent, depending on mood, and there is a minimalist touch here and there.