The Crossing Archive
“Seven Responses” The Crossing/ Donald Nally – Innova/ EDIE HILL: Clay Jug – The Crossing/Donald Nally – Navona
Two new and amazing releases from this wonderful vocal ensemble. “Seven Responses” = CAROLINE SHAW: To the Hands; HANS THOMALLA: I come near you; PELLE GUDMUNDSEN-HOLMGREEN: Ad cor; ANNA THORSVALDSDOTTIR: Ad genua/To the knees; DAVID T. LITTLE: dress in magic amulets, dark, from My feet; SANTA RATNIECE: My soul will sink within me; LEWIS SPRATLAN: Common Ground – The Crossing/International Contemporary Ens./Donald Nally – Innova 912, (2 CDs) 55:12, 50:40 (2/03/17) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: EDIE HILL: Clay Jug – The Crossing/Donald Nally – Navona NV6073 (2/10/17) [Distr. by Naxos] 47:44 ****: There seems to be a bit of a renaissance in chamber vocal ensembles and, in particular, those that specialize in contemporary music. Composer and vocalist Caroline Shaw’s own “Roomful of Teeth” is a prime example as is the Houston Chamber Choir and so many others. These two new and very impressive releases by The Crossing and their conductor/composer Donald Nally illustrate why they need to be included in the discussion of the very best of their kind in the country. These two releases are thematically a bit different and use – as their inspiration – very different source material. “Seven Responses” is a two-disc compilation of seven different […]
GAVIN BRYARS: The Fifth Century; Two Love Songs – Prism Quartet/The Crossing/Donald McNally – ECM New Series
Music that sounds both ancient and modern and beautiful throughout. GAVIN BRYARS: The Fifth Century; Two Love Songs – Prism Quartet/The Crossing/Donald McNally – ECM New Series ECM2405, 50:58 [Distr. by Naxos] (11/18/16) 50:58 ****: I have always found Gavin Bryars’ music to be beautiful, mysterious, unique; sometimes a bit disturbing – but always worth investigating. Known for its often slow-paced and quiet kind of minimalist-inspired sound, his music continues this effect with The Fifth Century, a song cycle after the seventeenth-century English poet and theologian Thomas Traherne. The title is actually also the name of a treatise on the “essence of God” by Traherne. While the texts are steeped with imagery of the infinite, of the heavens and of eternity, the real attention-getting aspect of this piece is Bryars’ rich, yet sparse, chord progressions and voicings and the beauty they produce. The other aspect of this score that cannot be appreciated until heard is the use of a saxophone quartet to accompany the otherwise a capella choir. One would think that saxophone quartets in such a context would drown the vocals or be given some oddly out of place chordal progressions or exposed moments that sound very stereotypically “saxophone-like.” […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
