Shara Nova: The Blue Hour: No. 36, We are as paper

Album review

Classical music literature contains various other examples of collaborative works, but this one, with five composers setting separate short parts of a single long poem for voice and small ensemble, is likely unique. All five of the composers are women. The text, from a poem called "On Earth" by Carolyn Forché (it is from a larger book called The Blue Hour), consists of short fragments organized alphabetically by title. They seem to refer loosely to stages in a woman's life, although the degree of concentration required to follow the text (no printed text is provided) tends to distract from the music. The music itself, however, is fascinating. How was the collaboration accomplished? The styles of the five composers involved -- Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider -- are diverse, but their contributions seem to flow naturally, and it would be interesting to know how this came about. Another somehow compelling feature is the presence of vocalist Shara Nova, a compelling figure in her own right, as one of the composers as well. There are no issues at all with the sound, which garnered a Best Engineered Classical Album Grammy Award nomination even though the album was recorded at several different locations. Recommended to aficionados of experimental strands in contemporary vocal music.

© James Manheim /TiVo