Los Angeles Master Chorale / Grant Gershon - Nico Muhly: A Good Understanding (2010)
Artist: Los Angeles Master Chorale
Title: Grant Gershon - Nico Muhly: A Good Understanding
Year Of Release: 2010
Label: Decca
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue, log)
Total Time: 58:48
Total Size: 210 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist: Title: Grant Gershon - Nico Muhly: A Good Understanding
Year Of Release: 2010
Label: Decca
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue, log)
Total Time: 58:48
Total Size: 210 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
01. Bright Mass With Canons - 1. Kyrie (3:24)
02. Bright Mass With Canons - 2. Gloria (4:11)
03. Bright Mass With Canons - 3. Sanctus (2:46)
04. Bright Mass With Canons - 4. Agnus Dei (3:13)
05. First Service - 1. Magnificat (5:20)
06. First Service - 2. Nunc Dimittis (2:51)
07. Senex Puerum Portabat (7:16)
08. A Good Understanding (6:33)
09. Expecting The Main Things From You - 1. I Hear America Singing (10:58)
10. Expecting The Main Things From You - 2. A Farm Picture (Interlude) (4:47)
11. Expecting The Main Things From You - 3. Poets To Come (7:30)
A Good Understanding was written for Tim Brown and the choir of Clare College, Cambridge with the generous cooperation of John Scott and the Boys of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. A Good Understanding, with texts culled from two psalms, was originally designed to share a program with Rutter’s expansive and expressive Mass of the Children. The piece unfolds episodically ““ short choral phrases alternating with longer instrumental interludes. The first half of the text is typical psaltry praise-making: outlining agreements, explaining the rules; the music is, accordingly, severe but practical. The second half of the text begins, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom / a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” I find the idea of “a good understanding” to be an especially exciting reward for following the rules; the boys sing pulsed syllables and long descants to celebrate the covenant while the choir sings a lilting, repetitive refrain.