Works by John J. Becker, Ernst Toch, Ruth Crawford, Stefan Wolpe, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Robert Erickson, Kenneth Gaburo, & Pauline Oliveros
The Astra Choir, John McCaughey, conductor
(with Warren Burt, speaker; Joanne Cannon, bassoon, contrabass sarrusophone; Chloë Sobek, violone; Nic Synot, double bass; Alexander Meagher, percussion; for Robert Erickson’s Do It)
Unsettled in more senses than one, these fourteen choral works, reaching across the central third of the 20th century, represent some special moments in the story of music for voices, and within the creative musings of their composers. Generations later, they remain as outliers, but also as bearers of central truths about musical materials of their times, evading common categorizations — radical or moderate, experimental or formalist, Stravinsky or Schoenberg.
The eight composers are eminent figures — each represented in other productions of New World Records. Their pieces here, however, have found no settled place in the choral culture, let alone in recordings — excepting Pauline Oliveros’s Tuning Meditation and Ernst Toch’s Geographical Fugue. Yet there could be something special about these choral cases. In their individuality and diversity — a small cauldron of mid-20th-century energies — they might raise questions still not settled in our 21st century. At the least, they seem to offer fresh experiences among the more conventional tonalities of recent choral creation, and the more uniform notions of what constitutes good choral sound.
Since the earliest chant, choral singing has been poised between two poles of expression, both of great interest to modern composers: a meditative state of pure sonority — humming, melismas on vowels, drones — and a discursive state of phonetic movement — words projected through collective utterance.
Through our fourteen choruses, emanations from the poles of humming and phonetics lead to a sense of musical ‘language’ itself in a state of re-thinking, not by notions of post-tonal styles replacing 19th-century harmonic grammar, but more by combinations of different sonic materials available on the terrain—chromatic, 12-tone, modal, neo-classic, noise, drone, sound poetry. This is choral music “unsettled” by its own times and embracing the situation with creative enthusiasm. — John McCaughey (from liner notes)
Pauline Oliveros: Tuning Meditation (1971), One Word: Sonic Meditation XII (1974); Kenneth Gaburo: Psalm (1965), Humming (1954), Laetentur Caeli (1957), Terra Tremuit (1957), Ad Te, Domine (1958); Ernst Toch: Gesprochene Musik (Spoken Music) (1930) speaking chorus & simulated Grammophonmusik version; John J. Becker: Missa Symphonica: I, IV, V (1933), Morning Song (1946); Ruth Crawford: When, not If (1933); Stefan Wolpe: Dust of Snow (1958); Robert Erickson: Do It (1968); Peggy Glanville-Hicks: Three Madrigals (1955)
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"This release is a true breath of fresh air, and serves an important role in preserving and advocating for a tradition that has been marginalized in American choral music." —Fanfare
Unsettled Choruses: A Terrain of Humming and Phonetics 1930-1974
| MP3/320 | $9.99 | |
| FLAC | $9.99 | |
| WAV | $9.99 | |
| CD | $15.99 |
Track Listing
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Tuning Meditation
Pauline Oliveros
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Psalm
Kenneth Gaburo
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Gesprochene Musik: I. "O-a"
Ernst Toch
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Gesprochene Musik: II. "Ta-tam"
Ernst Toch
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Gesprochene Musik: III. "Fuge aus der Geographie"
Ernst Toch
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Humming
Kenneth Gaburo
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Missa Symphonica: I. Kyrie
John J. Becker
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Missa Symphonica: IV. Sanctus
John J. Becker
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Missa Symphonica: V. Agnus Dei
John J. Becker
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Morning Song
John J. Becker
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Laetentur Caeli
Kenneth Gaburo
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Terra Tremuit
Kenneth Gaburo
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Ad Te, Domine
Kenneth Gaburo
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Gesprochene Musik: I. "O-a" (accelerated Grammophonmusik version)
Ernst Toch
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Gesprochene Musik: II. "Ta-tam" (accelerated Grammophonmusik version)
Ernst Toch
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Gesprochene Musik: III. "Fuge aus der Geographie" (accelerated Grammophonmusik version)
Ernst Toch
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When, not If
Ruth Crawford
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Dust of Snow
Stefan Wolpe
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Do It
Robert Erickson
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Three Madrigals: I. The night is the colour of a woman's arm
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
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Three Madrigals: II. Not all the knives of the lamp-posts
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
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Three Madrigals: III. Rationalists! wearing square hats
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
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One Word: Sonic Meditation XII
Pauline Oliveros
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