Jubilant Sykes Sings Copland and Spirituals (Jubilant Sykes, Andrew Litton, London Symphony Orchestra)

Chronique

Recorded in 1994, this album was richly deserving of the reissue it received from Arioso Classics in 2008. African-American baritone Jubilant Sykes offers strong readings of a group of eight African-American spirituals along both sets of Copland's Old American Songs in their orchestral version. The Copland performances are very strong, with warm performances that don't stint on the humor present in several of the songs. But the main attraction here is Sykes' approach to the spirituals, which can fairly be called awe-inspiring. It's so unlike other recordings of this music that you almost have to hear it to believe it. Basically Sykes combines three striking moves, beginning with a really impressive degree of timbral contrast among the various registers of his voice. The suddenness with which notes below low C seem to appear is especially noteworthy. This is one aspect of the more general influence of jazz, blues, and gospel music that Sykes brings to the spirituals; he has created a fusion of classical and African-American vernacular vocal techniques that is, in a word, unique. This fusion interacts, in turn, with the arrangements and orchestrations Sykes has gathered, three of which he wrote or co-wrote himself. They are full-blown old-school orchestral versions, full of pomp and circumstance, and expertly rendered by the London Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton. The end result is a profound meeting of musical traditions, one as moving as it is intellectually subtle. The voice here is extraordinary; what is done with it is more so. A must-have.
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