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The St. Charles Singers are pleased to announce the 2022 release of our new CD
Kaleidoscope, Earthly Forms and Heavenly Shapes
“Kaleidoscope is an album of live performances recorded in 2016, 2018, and 2019 by the St. Charles Singers. The title is meant to convey the many musical colors, emotions, images, and sound worlds awaiting the listener who engages with this wide-ranging exploration of choral gems from the 19th and 20th centuries. The program comprises 15 sacred and secular works presented in two thematic sections: “Earthly Forms” and “Heavenly Shapes.” It opens with Charles Stanford’s pictorial “The Blue Bird,” evoking serene natural beauty and accented with a lovely soprano obligato representing a bird in flight. The journey concludes with Bob Chilcott’s “Oculi Omnium,” a warm, comforting setting of Psalm 145:15. We take special pride in presenting John Rutter’s setting of the Shakespeare sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.” It was commissioned for the St. Charles Singers, which performed the world premiere in 2018.
This St. Charles Singers album was originally conceived as a COVID-19 era morale-booster to remind the mixed-voice chamber choir and its loyal audiences of the high level of professional artistry it has achieved and the collaborative community spirit that infuses everything it does. On reflection, we felt this program would captivate, inspire, and uplift choral music lovers everywhere, and it’s a joy to do so through the wide release of Kaleidoscope.”
Jeff Hunt
1. THE BLUE BIRD, Charles Stanford (1852-1924) 3:02
TROIS CHANSONS, Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
2 I, Diu! Qu’il la fait bon regarder 1:58
3 II. Quat j’ai ouy le tabourin 1:59; Brian Jozwiak, tenor
4 III. Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain! 1:52; Karen Rockett, soprano; Margaret Fox, alto; Brian Jozwiak, tenor; Jens Hurty, bass
5 HYMN TO ST. CECILIA, Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) 9:46; Marybeth Kurnat, soprano; Debra Wilder, alto; Robert Campbell, tenor; Antonio Quaranta, bass
6 AFTONEN, Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960) 3:25
7 GREEN BUSHES, Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951) 3:42, Michael Giuliani, piano
8 SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY? John Rutter (b. 1945) 3:06
9 CHARM ME ASLEEP, Henry David Leslie (1822-1896) 3:17
10 BLOW AWAY THE MORNING DEW, Reginald Owen Morris (1886-1948) 2:31
11 LOCUS ISTE, Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) 3:04
12 HAIL, GLADDENING LIGHT, Charles Wood (1866-1926) 3:01
13 MAGNIFICAT in G, Charles Stanford 4:15; Megan Bell, soprano; Michael Giuliani, organ
14 NUNC DIMITTIS in G, Charles Stanford 4:39; Douglas Peters, baritone; Michael Giuliani, organ
15 JAM SOL RECEDIT, Horatio Parker (1863-1919) 4:10
16 AGNUS DEI, Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) 1:37
17 OCULI OMNIUM, Bob Chilcott (b. 1955) 2:23
The choir’s discography also includes American Reflections and Bushes and Briars (MSR); our holiday music CD Christmas in St. Charles; American Songs (Naxos), and I Know Where I’m Going (Proteus)
