Into The Night: Contemporary Choral Music

The richness of contemporary choral music is explored on this recording of works by some of today’s leading composers from across three continents. Eric Whitacre’s dramatic setting of Lorca’s poetry is contrasted with Frank Ticheli’s serene setting of There Will Be Rest, in which he attempts, in his own words, to “capture [the poem’s] purity of spirit and delicate lyricism”. Arvo Pärt has crafted an atmospheric setting of John Henry Newman’s 1843 sermon Wisdom and Innocence. David N. Childs’ Do Not Go Gentle, a setting of Dylan Thomas’ famous poem, embodies a foreboding and ominous undercurrent of desperation in the face of impending death. Vox Humana is a new 24-voice chamber choir based in Dallas, Texas. Amongst the composers featured in this disc, Eric Whitacre is currently exceptionally popular, and Pärt and Tavener are perennial favourites. Composers such as Lauridsen and Ticheli, who are somewhat less well known but who have established followings and who contribute settings of great depth, are also included. The mood is largely consoling but not simplistic. There is no strictly comparable disc available.