Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

Rising w/The Crossing
The Crossing; Donald Nally
New Focus Recordings FCR281
(newfocusrecordings.com/
catalogue/?artist=11549)
! Living in the
throes of a raging
global pandemic
we all experience
our “new
normal” differently.
If ever we could
imagine a soundtrack
that unites us
through the silent roar of isolation it would
be one that reflects both the hopelessness of
it all as well as the uplifting energy of hope
itself. With its soul-stirring music, Rising w/
The Crossing certainly qualifies to provide
powerful anthems for our self-isolating
sensibilities.
The choral ensemble conducted by Donald
Nally brings uniquely thoughtful and penetrating
insight to music by Joby Talbot, Ēriks
Ešenvalds, Dieterich Buxtehude, Paul Fowler,
Alex Berko, Ted Hearne and Santa Ratniece;
works that follow in the wake of David Lang’s
powerfully prescient protect yourself from
infection, the text of which was inspired
by instructions that rose out of the last
pandemic: the Spanish flu.
The sense of awe and wonder which hovers
over this entire recital is particularly closefocused
in Lang’s work. It is echoed in the evershifting
heartbeat of the wonderfully supple
voices of the singers who make up The Crossing;
voices that ceaselessly and eloquently trace the
melodies of other stellar miniatures too.
Much of the music is performed a cappella
and this gives the works in question a
wonderfully spectral quality. This is certainly
true of Hearne’s 2016 work What it might
say. But equally, it is Buxtehude’s Baroqueperiod
works featuring the Quicksilver
ensemble that enliven the elusive moments of
this ethereal music’s whispered breath.
Raul da Gama
Poul Ruders – The Thirteenth Child
Soloists; Odense Symfoniorkester; Bridge
Academy Singers; David Starobin;
Benjamin Shwartz
Bridge Records 9527 (bridgerecords.com)
! The Thirteenth
Child is an opera
in two acts by
Danish composer
Poul Ruders (The
Handmaid’s Tale)
with a libretto
by Becky and
David Starobin.
Performed by a large cast of excellent soloist
singers, the Odense Symfoniorkester and
the Bridge Academy Singers, the opera is
based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The
Twelve Brothers.
The Thirteenth Child follows Princess
Lyra’s quest to find her 12 exiled brothers and
bring them home to save the kingdom. The
singers are all excellent and their vocal abilities
are displayed throughout the opera via
the modern and challenging parts written
for them, often covering extreme tessitura on
both sides of their vocal range. This is especially
evident in the several falsetto effects
sung by the two bass-baritones.
The opera is fast paced and action packed
with spells and adventures of good versus evil
mixed in with tragedy and triumph. The cast
of principals is large and the opera runs a short
77 minutes. As a result, the characters are not
as developed as they could be and this makes
meaningful audience engagement challenging.
It may be that adding a third act could not only
resolve this but would also allow for the story
to be modernized and for Ruders to showcase
more of his capable writing as he does for
Princess Lyra and her suitor Frederic.
Commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera and
the Odense Symfoniorkester, The Thirteenth
Child was recorded in Denmark and New
York. It was premiered in Santa Fe, July 2019.
Sophie Bisson
Cooperstown – Jazz Opera in Nine Innings
Daniel Montenegro; Carin Gilfry; Rod
Gilfry; Daniel Favela; Julie Adams; Band;
Sasha Matson
Albany Records TROY1848
(albanyrecords.com)
! Cooperstown:
Jazz Opera in Nine
Innings, is scored
for a 1950s-style
jazz quintet and
five singers. The
composer is Sasha
Matson with libretto
by Mark Miller,
inspired by A. Bartlett Giamatti’s essay The
Green Fields of the Mind. Although this story
takes place at the ballpark, it features all of the
elements of a great opera: Angel, from impoverished
Santo Domingo and newly raised to
the majors as a pitcher, falls in love with Lilly
from the Upper East Side. Undermining their
romance is Marvin, the aging pro catcher and
Jan, the jealous sports agent in love with Angel.
The dual love of baseball and romantic love
stories unfolds as the team manager, Dutch,
attempts to manage the relationship struggles to
focus on winning games.
In the liner notes Matson describes in detail
the recording process that allowed his team
to capture sounds reminiscent of the original
Blue Note recordings (microphone choices,
specific recording and mixing equipment).
The result is an outstanding listening experience:
the sounds are rich and full but the
music is as close and detailed as it would be
in an intimate luscious jazz lounge. The classically
trained voices are gorgeous and skillfully
blend in with the jazz quintet. Each
scene (inning) is bookended by a short and
seamless transition in the form of an instrumental
jazz chart played with impressive
skills by musicians of the jazz quintet.
Cooperstown might perhaps be more at home
on a theatrical stage than at the opera house
but it is a top-shelf musical experience.
Sophie Bisson
thewholenote.com/listening
The Months Have Ends
Paolo Marchettini
Composer, clarinetist, and pianist
Paolo Marchettini releases his
debut recording of works for
orchestra that are characteristic
of his lush, lyrical style.
Monday Nights
Sophie Bancroft
Reimagined classics and original
compositions featuring Scottish
singer-songwriter Sophie Bancroft
on vocals and guitar alongside
Canadian expat Tom Lyne on
acoustic & electric bass.
Surfboard
Brandi Disterheft
Surfboard is a Brazilian Jazz album
showcasing Brandi's inventive
writing, power-socket bass
playing, and sweet ethereal vocals.
Featuring saxophonist George
Coleman, Portinho on drums and
Klaus Mueller on piano.
Klaus Treuheit with Lou Grassi
Klaus Treuheit
Two performances recorded
by Bavarian Broadcasting
Corporation that are just too good
to be relegated to once-a-year
midnight transmissions.
thewholenote.com March and April 2021 | 35