CD ECM Records Meredith Monk: Songs Of Ascension

2011

Meredith Monk Ensemble
Todd Reynolds Quartet
The M6

Todd Reynolds - vioara
Courtney Orlando - vioara
Nadia Sirota - viola
Ha-Yang Kim - violoncel
Sasha Bogdanowitsch - voce
Sidney Chen - voce
Emily Eagen - voce
Holly Nadal - voce
Toby Newman - voce
Peter Sciscioli - voce
Ellen Fisher - voce, Shruti Box
Katie Geissinger - voce, Shruti Box
Ching Gonzalez - voce, Shruti Box
Bruce Rameker - voce, Shruti Box
Allison Sniffin - voce, Shruti Box
Bohdan Hilash - bas clarinet, saxofon alto, diverse instrumente de suflat, Shruti Box

Montclair State University Singers
Heather J. Buchanan Conductor
Meredith Monk - voce, Shruti Box

“Songs of Ascension” is a major new recording from composer Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble. Written in 2008, it is conceived as a continuous composition, a departure from Monk’s earlier collaged or episodic extended works.

In recent years Meredith Monk’s been expanding into the worlds of orchestra and string quartet. On “Songs of Ascension” she teams up with a string quartet of New York players well versed in new music. With winds, percussion and two vocal groups added to her already extraordinary singers, this is one of Monk’s most musically ambitious ventures.

Voices and instruments are paired and balanced against each other to an extent rare in her music. Inspirations for the work included the Song of Ascents, a group of psalms said to have been sung during pilgrimages, and a timely invitation to perform at an 8-story tower designed by visual artist Ann Hamilton. “Songs of Ascension” finds Monk playing with the musical, sonic, metaphysical and literal connotations of upward movement. “If Monk is seeking a place in the classical firmament, classical music has much to learn from her.” - Alex Ross, The New Yorker