CD by The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
If you’ve seen the videos of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, you’ll quickly get a sense for current American choral literature and the impact it’s having around the world. That may explain the release of this project, in which the Choir of Trinity College explores a cappella music written in England, primarily by living composers.
This highly regarded choir demonstrates what the human voice can do with masterful poetic texts and easy-to-listen-to tonal and harmonic structure. A text by H. W. Longfellow is the basis for “The Day Is Done” by Stephen Paulus, perhaps the most-recognized composer on the disc. The album’s title comes from Paulus’s spiritual side, with his setting of “Pilgrims’ Hymn”: “Even with darkness sealing us in, we breathe your name / And through all the days that follow so fast, we trust in you / Endless your grace, beyond all mortal dream.” Newer to the scene is Juilliard graduate Ola Gjeilo, who has become extremely popular with American choirs; he demonstrates his fresh style in the closing selection “Phoenix” (written for the Phoenix Chorale), using the “Agnus Dei” from the Latin Mass.
If the range of dynamics tells you anything, expect to hear this prayer for peace build to full intensity and conclude in a hush—a broad spectrum of choral sound. (Hyperion)