Choir of Merton College & Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas - Sleeper's Prayer: Choral Music from North America (2020)

In barely a decade of existence, Merton College’s new choral foundation has ambitiously redefined the choral landscape of the great university city of Oxford through its twin commitment to excellence & innovation. Now, focusing entirely on American music of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this latest in a series of thematically conceived recordings begins as a striking ‘double portrait’ of two composers who have written or arranged works especially for the choir.

David Lang’s austere choral postminimalism, informed by a background of Jewish liturgy and thought, provides a striking foil to Nico Muhly’s more richly referential approach; Muhly fell in love with the Anglican tradition as a young chorister in Rhode Island. Two solo organ works by Muhly, and a transcription from his mentor Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha, widen the expressive gamut still further – from whimsical allusiveness to meditative calm – and are set in context alongside the more stylistically eclectic yet no less powerfully communicative sound-worlds of Libby Larsen and Abbie Betinis. Two final choral items draw on pre-existing traditions of the spiritual and the Baptist hymnal in moving demonstration of the New World’s ability to honour its past while gazing Firmly ahead.

Tracklist
01. Senex puerum portabat (Version for Brass & Choir) (7:18)
02. Again (After Ecclesiastes) (4:22)
03. The Rev'd Mustard His Installation Prelude (3:05)
04. If I Sing (After Psalm 101) (3:47)
05. A Hymn on the Nativity (4:29)
06. Hudson Preludes: No. 1, Take Care (4:47)
07. I Will Sing and Raise a Psalm (5:07)
08. A Song of Ephrem the Syrian (5:25)
09. Sleeper's Prayer (Arr. for Choir & Organ) (7:20)
10. Satyagraha: Conclusion (Arr. M. Riesman for Solo Organ) (7:44)
11. Cedit, hyems (3:20)
12. Deep River (Arr. G. Hancock for Choir) (3:21)
13. The Road Home (After Graham's "Prospect") (3:28)