In the beginning
there was the sound of cymbals crashing
And in the end all things will drift away
just as a noise disappears into silence.
So begins Shara Nova’s Urgency, and so begins Carols after a Plague.
As of today, so begins our ninth Grammy nominated-album
(for Best Choral Performance).
Eight consecutive years. It’s a record (it really is!).
We are celebrating all the artists – and there are a ton! – that contributed to this album, starting with the twelve composers who made Carols for us: Shara Nova, Tyshawn Sorey, Edith Canat de Chizy, Joseph C. Phillips, Jr., LJ White, Samantha Fernando, Leila Adu-Gilmore, Nina Shekhar, Vanessa Lann, Mary Jane Leach, Alex Berko, Viet Cuong. We thank them for creating something from nothing – something meaningful – and for recognizing the plagues we live with, and turning them into art.
We are in amazing (nominated) company!! Conspirare (we share two composers on our nominated albums: Shara Nova and Alex Berko!), Clarion, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and Helsinki Chamber Choir (in a moving tribute to the late Kaija Saariaho). Friends we admire and we love listening to.
Speaking of listening: once you’ve spent some time revisiting Carols after a Plague, hop over and listen to David T. Little’s Black Lodge, nominated for Best Opera Performance. (We make an appearance on that album as well!)
Carols after a Plague.
A choral album that begins with a trumpet solo, played by Mike, one of the singers! There are marimbas and bells, and Kevin takes a turn on his mighty mandolin. There's a song about a hippopotamus. It's sad.
Today, we’re happy.
Happy for choral music, storytelling, and for listeners. Thanks for listening.
Love,
The Crossing
Carols of lonesome love! death’s carols!
Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!
O under that moon where she droops almost down into the sea!
O reckless despairing carols.
– “Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,” from Sea Drift, in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1891-1892), set by Edith Canat de Chizy for Carols after a Plague
