SKU: GI.G-1056
Composed by James Jordan.
GIA ChoralWorks. Music
Education. Choral score.
GIA Publications #1056.
Published by GIA
Publications (GI.G-1056).
UPC:
785147005629.
I
suppose as artists we are
always searching for
metaphors that speak
directly to the musics we
perform to guide us and
inspire. The music on
this CD pushes our
boundaries of what could
be considered normal
music making and instead
moves us into sound
worlds that expand what a
choral ensemble can
produce. This recording,
which documents an almost
three-year exploration
into improvisation in
various forms, contains
works for choral
ensembles that create new
sound worlds in and of
themselves. We are happy
to present to the world a
young composer from our
midst, Sam Scheibe. His
virtuous setting of O
magnum mysterium
introduces a gifted and
deeply insightful
compositional voice.
Sanctitude is an
expansive improvisation
combining choir, soprano
saxophone, Gregorian
chant, Arabic chant, and
melodies into a sound
world that I hope will
document the frontier of
a new world of choral
performance. The
techniques employed in
this improvisation are
documented in the new
text Discovering Choral
Improvisation through
Chant (GIA, 2020). The CD
opens with a
three-movement work, The
Dreams That Remain by
Thomas LaVoy, yet another
composer from the
Williamson Voices family
who has adapted the sound
world of this ensemble
into a work of beauty and
honesty. All of the works
on this CD create Auroras
of their own that touch
us deeply and cover our
senses with streamers of
light. I thank my friend,
James Whitbourn, for
conducting on three of
the tracks and for
crafting the Sanctitude
improvisation. Hopefully
the sounds on this CD
will, as Makoto Fujimara
says, bring you outside
of yourself, and pull you
to look at the [life's]
horizon and to see
beyond. — James
Jordan  .
