Albany Records: Portland State University Choir

Quantity in Basket: None PACIFIC NORTHWEST COMPOSERS Portland State University Choir TROY243 - Price: $16.99

Sophisticated new music for chorus.

Pacific Northwest composers sing not with one voice but with many, as this collection of choral music demonstrates. While five of the six composers represented here have a close connection tot he Northwest, their music is as different as the peaks of the Cascade Mountains. Four of them - Bryan Johanson, Salvador Brotons, Tomas Svoboda and Vijay Singh - all live in Portland, Oregon and make up the composition faculty in the Department of Music at Portland State University. However, their compositional styles range from affirming, tonal sonorities to exuberant folk melodies of Eastern Europe. The Portland State University Chamber Choir was formed in 1975. Its conductor, Bruce Browne, is professor of music and chairs the vocal-choral department there.

Salvador Brotons, composer
Les Quatre Estacions
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Salvador Brotons, composer
The Grove
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Norman Dinerstein, composer
When David Heard
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Bryan Johanson, composer
Liquid Music
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Bryan Johanson, composer
O Magnum Mysterium
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Bryan Johanson, composer
Ave Maria
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Vijay Singh, composer
A Glimpse of Snow and Evergreen
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Robert Suderberg, composer
Sanctus
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Tomas Svoboda, composer
Chorale Without Words
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Tomas Svoboda, composer
Cernohorska Fugue
Portland State University Chamber Choir, Bruce Browne, conductor

Review:

"All the composers but one on the program have had experience (past or present) teaching in the Pacific Northwest. All work in a relatively conservative idiom: tonal, lyrical, romantic. All the pieces are eminently singable.The performances by the Portland State University Chamber Choir under Bruce Browne are polished and committed. I salute them for the obvious hard work and devotion that they've given to all these works. Sonics overall are good for the recording. This is a nice slice of contemporary Americana, particularly worthwhile for the Dinerstein." (Fanfare)

Sophisticated new music for chorus.

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