New Album Review: The Sixteen - Exclusive Sampler

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Is there any choral ensemble with as broad a command of repertoire as the Sixteen? The Sixteen’s mastery of nearly 500 years of choral music is presented on this specially priced Ariama exclusive sampler featuring music from England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

This eclectic collection is a superb exploration of musical styles and a tribute to the Sixteen’s versatility.

New Album Review: Music in a Time of War

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The album’s title, Music for a Time of War, forces the conceit a bit because, with the exception of John Adams’s The Wound Dresser and possibly Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, there’s nothing specifically wartime-related on the program. But that shouldn’t dissuade you from picking up this outstanding album of music by Charles Ives, Adams, Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams performed by the Oregon Symphony conducted by its music director, Carlos Kalmar.

What does Ives’s mystical The Unanswered Question have to do with war? Not very much, but as Steven Kruger says in his liner notes, “Ultimately, a contemplative work is whatever the listener makes of it.” This is a superb performance of Ives’s mini-masterpiece. With their beautifully hushed well-articulated playing, the Oregon strings make the slow-motion opening chorale something that’s both mysterious and beautiful. Here’s an interesting listening exercise, listen to the Ives and then Ingram Marshall’s Fog Tropes and you will appreciate how prescient the old guy from Danbury really was.