フィールズ・オブ・ワンダー

カウンターテナーなし、テノール×4、バリトン×2、バス×2の低声部のみで構成される男声ヴォーカル・アンサンブル「カントゥス」のSignum Classics第5弾となるアルバムは、「変化」と「旅」がテーマ。ジャン・クラの印象派的な歌曲集、エドウィン・モーガンの詩に基づくブライヤーズの静謐な3部作、帰化申請書N-400の文言を基に構成されたダンフィーの鋭い政治的作品、マスキュリニティとアイデンティティを探るキャンディの連作、そして詩人ラングストン・ヒューズのテキストに基づくボンズの知られざる歌曲集など、現代の声楽芸術の最前線が凝縮されています。クラの作品を除き世界初録音での収録です。
東京エムプラス

These part-songs by the vocal octet Cantus were recorded in Minneapolis in 2022 and took nearly three years to find release on the Signum Classics label. Maybe it was the vague pronouncement in the gloss that the pieces "are all journeys toward a truer self" that was off-putting. In fact, there is novel and important music here, sung with the typical care shown by this group. Four of the five pieces are world premieres. The only work not proclaimed as one is the cycle Dans la montagne by Jean Cras (1879-1932), and it might as well be one; according to Allmusic, only its title track has been recorded in the past. This is lovely music, all but unknown, with the tension between the lushness of the choral writing and the sharp observation of the music in Cras essentially Impressionist language yielding all sort of delightful moments. The part-song was not an important part of the Impressionist repertory, and the surprise of these compels attention. The other big news here is the title cycle by Margaret Bonds, which is at least in part a world premiere. This is a recently rediscovered set by Bonds, featuring short texts by Langston Hughes, several lines long. Hughes wrote short poetry during various phases of his career but tended more and more toward it later in life, and the details of Bonds settings catch the small implications of the words. This is a major discovery in the field of African American music. The three central works are not quite on the level of the bookends but show some aspects of the state of the art in art song; N-400 Erasures by Melissa Dunphy consists of poetic commentary on a U.S. government immigration form, something more relevant now than even when the piece was recorded. A bit more explanation in the booklet for buyers of the physical album might have been in order. In any event, the Cras and Bonds recordings are important items indeed. ~ James Manheim