The Fifth Century

Last updated
The Fifth Century
Bryars+Cover.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 18, 2016 (2016-11-18)
RecordedJuly 2014 and June 2015
StudioGould Hall at the Curtis Institute of Music
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
Genre Classical music, choral
Length50:07
Label ECM New Series
ECM New Series 2405
Producer Manfred Eicher
Gavin Bryars chronology
I Tatti Madrigals
(2016)
The Fifth Century
(2016)
Adelaide Town Hall
(2016)

The Fifth Century is a classical and choral studio album by Gavin Bryars, conducted by Donald Nally, and performed by The Crossing choir with the saxophone quartet PRISM. This album was released in the label ECM New Series in November 2016. [1] The album won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance.

Contents

Composition

The album is divided in two parts. The first seven tracks are a named after a setting of words by the theologian and poet Thomas Traherne, and performed by the choir and saxophone quartet at the Gould Hall in the Curtis Institute of Music in July 2014. The second part, named "Two Love Songs" is the last two tracks of the album are an a cappella settings for the women of The Crossing. It was recorded in June 2015 at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. [1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

James Manheim in his review for All Music says that "He [Gavin Bryars] has not written much choral music, but this ECM release may make his fans wish he had written more." and about the production, he says that "As usual with ECM, the sound engineers are among the stars of the show; their work on The Fifth Century, at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, is especially enchanting." [2]

In The Guardian, Kate Molleson gave this album three stars and says that "the saxes weave around like extra voices and the blended sound of The Crossing and Prism is creamy and pliable" and Molleson add about the "Two love songs" part that it's "sung with a grace so chilly it might freeze at any moment." [3]

Track listing

All music is composed by Gavin Bryars

Part one: The Fifth Century (2014)
No.TitleLength
1."We see the heavens with our eyes"9:47
2."As sure as there is a space infinite"5:37
3."Infinity of space is like a painter's table"3:54
4."Eternity is a mysterious absence of times and ages"6:42
5."Eternity magnifies our joys exceedingly"3:17
6."His omnipresence is our field of joys"5:50
7."Our bridegroom and our king being everywhere"7:14
Part two: Two Love Songs (2010)
No.TitleLength
8."Io amai sempre"3:59
9."Solo et pensoso"3:47
Total length:50:07

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Bryars</span> Musical artist

Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Parker</span> British saxophone player

Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.

Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014.

Roxanna Panufnik is a British composer of Polish descent. She is the daughter of the Polish composer and conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and his second wife Camilla, née Jessel.

Bernard Rands is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.

Choral Arts Philadelphia is a 40-voice choir with an 8-voice professional core and semi-professional and amateur auditioned volunteer singers. The ensemble was founded in 1982 in Philadelphia as a symphonic chorus of 120+ voices. It is currently directed by Matthew Glandorf, who also serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. The group has performed nearly 200 works by more than 100 composers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Nally</span> Musical artist

Donald Nally is an American conductor, chorus master, and professor of conducting, specializing in chamber choirs, opera, and new music. He is conductor of the professional new-music choir, The Crossing, based in Philadelphia. He teaches graduate students at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Potter (musician)</span> English tenor and academic

John Potter is an English tenor and academic.

<i>Changes</i> (Keith Jarrett album) 1984 studio album by Keith Jarrett

Changes is a jazz album recorded by Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock in January 1983 during the same sessions that produced the two albums Standards, Vol. 1 and Standards, Vol. 2; the albums together started a long performing and recording career for what became known as the Standards Trio. Changes was released by ECM Records in September 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crossing (choral ensemble)</span> American chamber choir, conducted by Donald Nally

The Crossing is an American professional chamber choir, conducted by Donald Nally and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It focuses on new music, commission and premiere works, and collaborates with various venues and instrumental ensembles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ludwig (composer)</span> American composer of classical music (born 1974)

David Serkin Ludwig is an American composer, teacher, and Dean of Music at The Juilliard School. His uncle was pianist Peter Serkin, his grandfather was the pianist Rudolf Serkin, and his great-grandfather was the violinist Adolf Busch. He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad. His choral work, The New Colossus, was performed at the 2013 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

<i>Proverbs and Songs</i> 1997 live album by John Surman

Proverbs and Songs is a live album by the English saxophonist John Surman of a suite of choral settings of Old Testament texts. It was recorded at Salisbury Cathedral on June 1, 1996 with the organist John Taylor and released on ECM the following year. It also featured the 75-strong Salisbury Festival Chorus. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1998. Surman performed the suite several times after the 1996 performance.

<i>Sleeper</i> (Keith Jarrett album) 2012 live album by Keith Jarrett

Sleeper is a double album by Keith Jarrett's "European Quartet" recorded on April 16, 1979 in Tokyo, and released on ECM 33 years later in 2012.

<i>Within a Song</i> 2012 studio album by John Abercrombie Quartet

Within a Song is a studio album by the John Abercrombie Quartet, recorded in September 2011 and released on ECM in April the following year. The quartet featurs Abercrombie on guitar, Joe Lovano on saxophone, Drew Gress on bass and Joey Baron on drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnificat (Penderecki)</span> Religious musical setting by Krzysztof Penderecki

Penderecki's setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat was commissioned for the 1200th anniversary of Salzburg Cathedral and premiered there on 17 August 1974 under the composer's baton. It is a vast work, being scored for bass vocal soloist, boys’ voices, seven other men’s voices, two 24-part mixed choirs and orchestra.

Timothy McAllister is an American classical saxophonist and music educator, who, as of 2014, is Professor of Saxophone at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Et Lux is a classical and choral studio album by German composer Wolfgang Rihm, and played by an orchestra with the Huelgas Ensemble with the Minguet Quartett. This album was released in the label ECM New Series in March 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kile Smith</span> American composer of choral, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music.

Kile Smith is an American composer of choral, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. The Arc in the Sky with The Crossing received a 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance, and the Canticle CD by Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble helped win the 2020 Classical Producer of the Year Grammy for Blanton Alspaugh. A Black Birch in Winter, which includes Smith's Where Flames a Word, won the 2020 Estonian Recording of the Year for Voces Musicales.

<i>Luys i Luso</i> 2015 studio album by Tigran Hamasyan

Luys i Luso is the seventh album by Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan. It was released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansing McLoskey</span> American composer (born 1937)

Lansing McLoskey is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His Zealot Canticles: An Oratorio for Tolerance was a winner of the 61st Annual Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance by the ensemble The Crossing. McLoskey serves as a Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music in Miami, Florida. Among McLoskey's numerous commissions are those from Guerilla Opera, Copland House, The Fromm Foundation, The Barlow Endowment, N.E.A., The Crossing, ensemberlino vocale, New Spectrum Foundation, Ensemble Berlin PianoPercussion, Passepartout Duo, the Boston Choral Ensemble, and Kammerkoret NOVA.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Fifth Century". ECM New Series . Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "The Fifth Century (All Music Review)". All Music . Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The Fifth Century (The Guardian Review)". The Guardian . Retrieved June 2, 2017.