American Choral Music: Persichetti, Schuman, Bolcom, Fine, Ross

American Choral Music: Persichetti, Schuman

Label: Naxos (USA)
Catalog No: NXS 8559358
Format: CD
Release Date: 2010-07-27
Number of Discs: 1
Running time: 1 hr. 13 min.
Mono/Stereo: Stereo
UPC Code: 636943935828

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Notes & Reviews:

American choral music has many faces and, while aware of tradition, often looks resolutely towards the future. Vincent Persichetti's Mass envelops an original cantus firmus in a shimmering silken garment of ever-shifting harmonies, while Lukas Foss provides a lyre-like accompaniment for his lean, sometimes athletic, settings of three Psalms. Irving Fine sets poems by Shakespeare's contemporary Ben Jonson (The Hour-Glass), William Schuman draws on texts by Walt Whitman for his Carols of Death, while William Bolcom uses African- American poems as the basis for a wide-ranging song cycle, The Mask.

Notes & Reviews:

Recording information: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007).



Reviews

A choral grab bag
There’s sacred music and secular in this second such collection by Morrow and his Texas forces; some is accompanied, and some not. The only unifying theme here is that all the composers were/are American. Persichetti’s 1960 Mass oscillates between stark threads of chant-like melody and rich harmonies. Schuman: Carols of Death (1958/ Walt Whitman) and Fine: The Hour-Glass (1949/ Ben Jonson) set classic poetry to astringent new music. In the six sections of The Mask (1990, one for keyboard alone) William Bolcom exploits a variety of pretty accessible musical styles. A three-part Psalms (1956) by Lukas Foss shows a definite influence on Bernstein’s more famous setting; just the middle section is over-long for its content. Performances and sound are fine, though diction could be better, and you will need to download the texts to get a lot of the words.
Submitted on 07/17/11 by Jim D. 
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Works Details

>Persichetti, Vincent : Mass, for mixed chorus, Op 84
  • Conductor: James Morrow
  • Notes: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007)
  • Running Time: 2 min. 8 sec.
  • Period Time: Modern
  • Form: Choral

>Schuman, William : Carols of Death, pieces (3) for chorus
  • Conductor: James Morrow
  • Notes: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007)
  • Running Time: 9 min. 40 sec.
  • Period Time: Modern
  • Form: Christmas
  • Written: 1958

>Bolcom, William : The Mask, for chorus, piano & chamber ensemble
  • Performer: Dwight Bigler (Piano)
  • Conductor: James Morrow
  • Notes: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007)
  • Running Time: 5 min. 17 sec.
  • Period Time: Contemporary

>Fine, Irving : The Hour Glass, for 4 voices
  • Performers: Eric Neuville; Meredith Ruduski; Lisa Holt; John Wiles
  • Conductor: James Morrow
  • Notes: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007)
  • Running Time: 12 min. 30 sec.
  • Period Time: Modern
  • Written: 1949

>Foss, Lukas [Composer] : Psalms (4) for chorus, 2 pianos & orchestra
  • Performers: Dwight Bigler (Piano); John Wiles (Piano); Lisa Holt (Piano); Alena Gorina (Piano)
  • Conductor: James Morrow
  • Notes: University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas (05/21/2007-05/22/2007)
  • Running Time: 3 min. 33 sec.
  • Period Time: Contemporary
  • Written: 1955-1956