Carol Barnett, "The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass," VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Monroe Crossing, directed by Philip Brunelle (Clarion)

Barnett manages to honor both the classical choral tradition and the improvisatory impulse of bluegrass music in her contemporary rendition of the Mass. Poet Marisha Chamberlain creates lyrics giving each of the sections of the Catholic liturgy (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, etc.) a contemporary interpretation. She also intersperses verses of a bluegrass ballad elucidating a joyful spirituality. In the performances of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and the bluegrass band Monroe Crossing, both traditions are in good hands, with formality and jubilance well balanced in this life-affirming celebration.

The second half of the CD features the Ensemble Singers in more familiar repertoire: ten selections by composers acknowledged by the National Endowment for the Arts in its choral initiative. Works by Ned Rorem and William Bolcom rub elbows with such local luminaries as Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Aaron Jay Kernis and Randall Thompson. It's hard to imagine a more idiomatic performance of this survey of contemporary choral masters.

WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD

Bach Magnificat; Handel Dixit Dominus

Le concert d'Astree, Emanuelle Haim (Virgin)

No Christmas release better illustrates the evolution of musical tastes in the 21st century than this deft French blend of masterly devotions. Gone are the belted declamations of opera divas and the tweeted supplications of early-music specialists. In their place comes a contemplative alliance of widely varied artists brought together by Emmanuelle Haim's enlightened diversity. Check out Suscepit Israel in Bach's Magnificat for a designer fusion of big-house soprano Natalie Dessay, baroque mezzo Karine Deshayes and castrato imitator Philippe Jarousky -- an object lesson in classical multiculturalism with very few flaws except in one male's intonation. Handel's Dixit, in his early Italianate style, offers fewer stylistic contrasts, inviting the soloists to weave in and out of a fine-tuned, never too-loud chorus until all are united in Gloria Patri. The antidote to maestro-portrait superstore vanities, this is organic, free-range music making that feels natural, intimate and magnificently self-restrained.

NORMAN LEBRECT

LONDON EVENING STANDARD