Stylistic traits in the choral works of Lauridsen, Whitacre, and Clausen (1995--2005)

The choral music by Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, and Rene Clausen written between 1995 and 2005 has filled concert programs and become a major part of the standard repertoire. Their music features an intense focus on added-chord sonorities, based on the conventional diatonic tertian system with the addition of pitches that create harmonic seconds with other notes in the triad. Rhythm is kept simple while meter changes, generated by the prosody of the text, are common. A legato aesthetic predominates and sustained voices offset disjunct voice leading. Texture is founded on homophony originating in chordal declamation of text, with the use of minimialistic layered patterns and other devises to creatively vary texture.; A study of published literature on the choral works of these composers and a thorough examination of select scores in this study shows a common use of stylistic features and may suggest the potential development of a sub-style of contemporary choral music.