The container notes for this disc give the names of the composers
in dark red and of the works in a light brown, both virtually
unreadable on a dark brown background. The names of the choir,
including those who did not sing on this recording, together
with those who supported it in various ways, are given more
legibly, but there is no information about the composers or
the works. It is only when you find the words “Place this product
in your computer to access exclusive interactive multimedia
content” in very small print and at right angles to the main
information that you start to work out what you need to do to
obtain this essential information. No doubt all of this will
have been obvious to listeners more technically literate than
I am, but I do regret unnecessary barriers to attracting potential
purchasers of a disc of music by composers performed by a choir,
neither of whom are widely known. This is a great pity as there
is much to enjoy here, not least the choir’s fearless and very
committed approach to music of considerable technical difficulty.
That this is the case is apparent from another very welcome
feature - the ability to view the scores of several of the pieces.
It would be good to see this as a regular feature in recordings
of new music in particular, although the ability to enlarge
them to a more readable size would be welcome.
The Crossing is a professional choir with twenty-two singers
deployed on this disc. It was founded in Philadelphia in 2005
by their conductor, Donald Nally. They specialise in modern
music and have an admirable list of first performances and first
American performances, and, even better, of commissions. Most
of the works on this disc are part of “The Celan Project” and
set texts by the Romanian poet Paul Celan (1920-1970). The odd
one out is Paul Fowler’s “Breath” which sets texts by Philip
Levine, an American poet born in 1928, for the choir’s later
“Levine Project”). All of the composers represented here are
American apart from Frank Havrøy, a Norwegian singer who is
a member of Nordic Voices, and Erhard Karkoschka from the Czech
Republic.
I admired the tremendous technique and tone of the choir throughout
the disc, as well as their very considerable enterprise in commissioning
or choosing these works, but I regret that I found myself too
often finding little of interest in the music. Most is slow,
lacking in variety of texture or gesture, or any obvious logic
or sense of purpose. It is a good thing that the texts are available
as they are not audible – more an inherent part of the settings
than the choir’s fault, I think. Despite the often beautiful
sounds produced, I found that of the American works only that
by Kirsten Broberg gripped me, although David Shapiro’s “It
is time” did reach an impressive climax. The works by Frank
Havrøy and Erhard Karkoschka were for me the highlights of the
disc, with more varied textures and a real shape but even they
are not pieces I expect to return to often.
Nonetheless this remains most certainly a demonstration of some
very impressive and committed singing. The Crossing are a choir
who deserve to be heard, but I hope that next time I do so it
will be in music that does more to reward their efforts.
John Sheppard
The Crossing/Donald Nally
