Benedict Sheehan: Vespers
Saint Tikhon Choir/Benedict Sheehan
Capella Records CR423
Total Time:  59:21
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Over the last couple of years, Capella Records has released some quite stunning recordings of choral music.  They most recently received a Grammy nomination for their recording of the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.  That work, also by Benedict Sheehan, grew out of the Russian Orthodox musical traditions that infuse the work of Russian masters of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries.  The present Vespers takes its inspiration from a similar work by Sergei Rachmaninoff, (All-Night Vigil/Vespers, Op. 37). 

Texts are in English here which greatly expands the music’s communicability which is equally coupled with Sheehan’s gorgeous choral style.  The piece combines chanted moments that connect to the arching liturgical components with the choral responses often set in rich harmony.  These move back and forth from a reaching out sensibility and back to a more central anchored unison.  It thus creates a semi-modern interjection into this ancient chant line.  The work also includes adaptations of several psalms as well.  The fabric of the music also incorporates Byzantine chant motives and melodic formulas which further lend the music its unique sound.  What makes the work fascinating is Sheehan’s references to earlier eras of Russian Orthodox choral music.  This creates moments of some what closer intervallic relationships that blossom into fuller harmonies.  The effect is like moving from the Middle Ages into the current age.  There is also a nod given to Baroque style (highlighted in the setting of the Prokeimenon).  Slavic choral style permeates the work as a whole now brought into English settings where similar approaches are adapted to the language.  The music flows effortlessly from one moment to the next providing opportunity for color changes with various vocal solos.  Perhaps the most intriguing is the Song of Simeon which is essentially a mini concerto for basso profundo (!) requiring a quite extraordinary low range (performed here by the superb Glenn Miller).  A blend of Rautavaara and Lauridsen in moments of the work can help provide that larger link to approaches by popular current choral composers of which this work should sit rather firmly in the midst.

Having had the opportunity to hear many of Sheehan’s previous works and Capella Records’ dynamic recordings, it may seem a bit redundant to say here that once again they have captured the chorus in a superb acoustic that provides a fine ambience.  It allows for the clarity of individual lines as well as a stunning full choral sound that is enhanced by the multi-channel recording.  Tossing this into your surround sound system will yield an experience that is quite transcendent.  Sheehan’s Vespers is a beautiful work well performed here by committed choristers bringing a sense of religious adoration that transports the listener.

Two new releases of piano music come at their subjects from quite different directions.

Composer Paul Paccione's (b. 1952) music for solo piano is featured on this new Music for Piano  release from Navona (Navona 6376).  The three pieces here were all composed between 2012-2019 for Jenny Perron who performs them here.

Tapestry Studies (2012) is a collection of nine etude-like pieces that explore different musical genres (habanera, invention, serenade, aubade--the morning equivalent of the evening serenade; and a march). It opens with a reflective, Satie-esque "First Things".  Paccione's musical language tends to be in a somewhat modal quality, though he does flirt with other whole tone and pentatonic scales.  The lyrical material tends to be in smaller cells that repeat in a minimalist way with the accompaniment also somewhat following in the same way.  The result are pieces that have a Post-Impressionist bent with a touch of Post-minimalist construction.  The final "Scribbling" picks the pace up a little bit to create a fast-paced technical exercise.

In a far more meditative vein, the second work on the album, Book of Hours (2019), moves the listener musically through the common practice of reflection and prayer that occurs at each hour of the day.  The eight canonical hours are each given their own separate time here to provide illumination, or at least an entry point, to specific events in the life of the Virgin Mary.  Paccione's somewhat impressionistic style works quite well in these pieces.

Unsent Letter (2015) is a sort of mini-encore honoring all those things we perhaps write out but for whatever neglect to send.

These are quite beautiful pieces that make for accessible and relaxed listening.  Perron's approach connects well to the musical aesthetics here.  It would be great to hear her interpretations of Debussy or Satie as these are distant cousins to Paccione's music as on display in this release.  A gorgeous album of music that is highly recommended.

At first glance, Pianist Hilary Demske's new album Journey for One: A Wintereisse Fantasy (Navona 6370) seems like it would be a straight-forward reading of Schubert's standard song cycle Wintereisse, Op 89 (1827).  The work is a setting of various poems by Wilhelm Muller.  The poetry informs Demske's interpretations of this music which has now been transformed, deconstructed, and/or redacted into a powerful new collection of solo piano pieces.  Schubert's romantic sensibilities are the framework for Demske's own departures that incorporate more dissonant harmonic approaches that can suddenly break into the music.  She also employs a variety of techniques that extend the sound of the piano (including aspects of strumming strings as one most striking early addition).  Percussion instruments are also incorporated from time to time as well.  The music thus takes on a semi-improvisatory quality that falls the whims of Demske's interpretation of the poetry as well as the source music as well.  Winterreise becomes a far more intense solo piano work as a result with the Romantic moments seeming to come crashing in to contemporary explosions of passion.  One thing this can do is give listeners pause to think about the poetry itself as an "introduction" to what follows.  The words now becoming inexpressible and only now viewed through Demske's lens.  One may want to have listened to Schubert's song cycle first with those texts in hand to gain a fuller appreciation of what she is attempting here in this new release which features stunning pianism.