Far In The Heavens
$11.98 – $19.98
True Concord Voices & Orchestra
Eric Holtan, Conductor
GRAMMY® Award Winner — Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Stephen Paulus: Prayers and Remembrances)
Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) was hailed as “a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift” by The New Yorker. A prolific composer of over 500 works, he wrote for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard and opera. He was a recipient of both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships. Described as uniquely American, his musical language was characterized as “irresistible in kinetic energy and haunting in lyrical design” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, while The New York Times praised him for “melodic patterns that are fresh and familiar at the same time” and scoring that is “invariably expert and exceptionally imaginative in textures and use of instruments.” His music is represented on over fifty recordings. .
Far In The Heavens comprises recently composed and previously unrecorded works by Stephen Paulus, including two works that were commissioned and premiered by True Concord Voices & Orchestra: The Incomprehensible for their fifth anniversary season in 2009, and in 2011 Prayers and Remembrances for the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. GRAMMY®-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles produced the album, and Mr. Paulus supervised the recording in Tucson, Arizona. Tragically, Stephen Paulus suffered a major stroke just six weeks after recording the album. He never recovered, and passed away in October 2014 after being in a coma for more than a year.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra, founded in 2004 by music director Eric Holtan as Tucson Chamber Artists, draws on the first rank of choral and instrumental musicians from Arizona and the United States. True Concord’s artistic mission is to enrich lives through the transformational power of classical music. It accomplishes this primarily through the performance of masterworks and the diverse music of the United States, making its New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with Paulus’s Prayers and Remembrances in September 11, 2015, and its international debut with this recording. With this album, True Concord seeks to bring together hearts from Tucson with those from around the world, through the power of music by one of America’s greatest and most beloved composers. “This CD is the culmination of everything Stephen ever wrote in his entire career…he must have had a premonition that this CD needed his final touch.” —Patty Paulus, wife of the late Stephen Paulus.
On This Recording
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Prayers and Remembrances
- They Are All Gone
- Lord, Make Me an Instrument
- Music, When Soft Voices Die
- Great Spirit
- In Beauty It Walks
- Eternity
- Grant That We May Love
- Nunc dimittis
- The Incomprehensible
- I Have Called You By Name
- Little Elegy
- When Music Sounds
Reviews:
“I had just finished reviewing this disc when the news came that it had garnered two 2016 Grammy Awards (Nominations), for Best Classical Compendium and Best Classical Composition (Prayers and Remembrances). Often the Grammys, and certainly the Pulitzers, get things horribly wrong, but I must say that this recording, possessing a virginal freshness and utter simplicity of concept, is as worthy a winner as we have had in any number of years. …” —Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition
“… Most are a cappella and offer a chance to concentrate more on the angelic voices of the True Concord ensemble. … The result is an emotionally and spiritually evocative experience that has the power not only to assuage grief, but to uplift the soul.” —David Maurer, Culture Spot LA
“The choral singing is superb, as it is throughout this first-rate production, and in the accompanied selections the orchestra acquits itself equally well. True Concord Voices and its conductor Eric Holtan truly had a special relationship with Stephen Paulus and his music, and one couldn’t ask for more authoritative, caring, or musically refined advocates. Anyone wishing to get to know–or to know better–this very fine and sorely missed composer should be sure not to miss this.” —David Vernier, ClassicsToday
“…Prayers and Remembrances is the main work here. It marked the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and receives an appropriately sincere, reflective performance by the choir that commissioned it.” Terry Blain, BBC Music
“This is a fine disc. I appreciated the quality of the performances very much. The documentation is comprehensive and good. The sound quality is very pleasing also. … the sound is clear and pleasing and shows both the performers and the music to good advantage. All concerned, performers and technicians, have done Stephen Paulus proud with this release and I’m sure he was delighted by what he heard at the sessions. It’s sad that the creative voice of a composer who wrote so effectively and understandingly for the human voice has now been silenced.” —John Quinn, MusicWeb International
“… abundantly lyric, soothingly consonant works…True Concord’s…vocal blend gilds the unaccompanied works especially with a halo of resonance.” —Alexander Coghlan, Gramophone
“The performances are excellent and the recorded sound quite good. This disc is a must for every library of American music or for anyone who delights in hearing great verse beautifully set to music.” —Rad Bennett
“This recording will appeal to many, as Paulus’ music is undeniably beautiful and pleasing; but it also important because it serves to introduce lesser known music, including a new masterwork, of an influential 21st century American voice.” —Adam Luebke, Opera Today
“Mr. Holton led with total commitment, his gestures seemingly coaxing the utmost from his ensemble in a performance that held this listener’s complete attention for the work’s entire thirty-five plus minutes. … Congratulations to the True Concord Voices and Orchestra for living up to the ideals of their name and for the wonderful performance” —Jeffrey Williams, New York Concert Review
