VOYAGES

Our eighteenth CD celebrates the words of Hart Crane
through the music of Benjamin C.S. Boyle and Robert Convery
on Innova Recordings

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It's been a remarkable summer for The Crossing and, even if we hadn't been to Haarlem, Montana, Chorus America, and deep space in Aniara, we'd still be celebrating the release of no less than three new recordings. Today, August 23, with the arrival of VOYAGES, we bring our season to a close. It's been exhausting and exhilarating, and VOYAGES is a perfect way to summarize a year of new music.

- As if too brittle or too clear to touch!
The cables of our sleep so swiftly filed,
Already hang, shred ends from remembered stars.
One frozen trackless smile ... What words
Can strangle this deaf moonlight? For we
Are overtaken.

The difference between the musical responses of Bob Convery and Benjamin Boyle to the same texts is an example of the overarching variety and creativity in the body of work we are developing. Both long-time friends of The Crossing, their textures fit us so well, it sometimes feels like we're making the music up on the spot - like we're in their heads. We are so grateful for these creative artists' compositional voices - for the risks they take and the rewards gained. Intense. Personal.
 
Thanks to an Anonymous Donor for supporting this, and all of our recording projects.



In case you missed them

The Arc in the Sky by Kile Smith
released July 12
on Navona Records

A remarkable achievement in nine movements, Kile's concert-length work explores the poetry of minimalist, jazz-influenced, recluse Robert Lax. Whether Lax is talking about the wonder of Louis Armstrong's music, having a simple conversation with fishermen, or telling Jack Kerouac how to write, Kile finds in his words new worlds of expression and description, moving with ease from exuberance to meditation. Epic. Immediate. 



There is no end to the song and no beginning
the singer may die
but the song is forever
 
truth is the name of the song
and the song is truth.



Evolutionary Spirits
music of Edie Hill, Jonathan Sheffer, Bruce Babcock, 
James Shrader, Christopher Hoh, and Gregory Brown
released June 28
on Navona Records

Edie Hill's Poem for 2084 sets the tone of contemplation, expectation, and celebration that permeates this compilation CD from six gifted, generous composers. We had so much fun getting better acquainted with these composers and their music while putting together something new that reflects back to our very first solo recording with Navona ten years ago: a gathering of works in diverse styles we find interesting and worthy of setting down with the composers' ears in the room.



If the rivers and oceans
have begun to purify,
if the lead contaminated earth
 
has begun to heal,
if the mind has grown
less separate from other minds,
 
rejoice

New music only happens through your support.
Please consider joining our end-of-season campaign by giving here:  
 
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