Hear choral works that make use of a choir for color and texture, rather than the delivery of a text on this New Sounds. From violinist and composer Timba Harris, listen to an album length suite of pieces about the Cascade Mountains at the time of Mount St. Helens’ eruption in 1980. His “neXus I: Cascadia” features a big choir and minimal strings and electronics, depicting a monarch butterfly, black bear, and the flora and fauna in the in the Pacific Northwest affected by the eruption of the volcano. Also, listen to a work without words written for vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, called “AEIOU,” by Ecstatic Music Festival founder and composer Judd Greenstein. Plus, the vocal ensemble, New York Polyphony, makes over the medieval into something modern with their remix of a Gregorian chant piece. And more.
PROGRAM #3446, chorus without words (First aired on 3/25/2013)
ARTIST(S) | RECORDING | CUT(S) | SOURCE |
Timba Harris, Cal State Long Beach University Choir directed by Dr. Jonathan Talberg | neXus I: Cascadia | Monarch (the egg) [4:38] | Tzadik 8086 |
Roomful of Teeth | Roomful of Teeth | Judd Greenstein: AEIOU [6:17] | New Amsterdam NWAM 041 |
Timba Harris, Cal State Long Beach University Choir directed by Dr. Jonathan Talberg | neXus I: Cascadia | Mt St Helens (dead zone, May 19, 1980) [2:47] | See above. |
NY Polyphony | Devices & Desires | Gaudeamus omnes in Domino (Pariter Remix) [2:50] | Indaba Music www.newyorkpolyphony.com |
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble | Atlas | Meredith Monk: Astronaut anthem (1983) [4:55] | ECM 1491 |
London Sinfonietta Voices | Terry Edwards, conductor | Ligeti: A Cappella Choral Works | György Ligeti: Lux Aeterna [7:49] | Sony 62305 |
Timba Harris, Cal State Long Beach University Choir directed by Dr. Jonathan Talberg | neXus I: Cascadia | Flora/Fauna (renatus) [3:37] | See above. |
Tonu Kaljuste | Swedish Radio Choir | Psalms of Repentance | Schnittke: Psalms Of Repentance For Mixed Choir - Psalm 12 [8:25] | ECM 1583 |
