Album Notes

Brian Black, tenor; Jennifer Black, soprano; Daniel Cabena, male alto; Dawna Coleman, harp; Judy Garrett, alto; David Hall, organ; Kevin Ramessar, guitar; Tony Snyder, French horn(s); Chad Spaulding, bass
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The music of this recording is a gentle expression of love and its language of the deepest longing of the heart: intimacy.

It begins with The Lamb, a gentle vocal lullaby for two voices, soprano and male alto, written by Barrie Cabena as part of a collection of songs entitled Songs of Innocence and Experience. The Nocturne that follows is taken from the orchestral incidental music Mendelssohn wrote to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and this arrangement for horn and guitar serenely conveys the tranquility that accompanies the quieting of the soul before sleep, the moment when all defenses are released.

Perhaps one of the best-loved pieces from the Requiem by Gabriel Faure is the tender soprano solo, Pie Jesu. Its pure message of hope shows the heart at its most vulnerable moment, and the soprano, harp and organ in this arrangement describe the hope, acceptance and release that awaits those who are at rest in the love of their Creator.

Erbarm dich, O Mein Gott is a text adapted from Psalm 51 which Heinrich Schutz set to music in the 17th century. It expresses one of the most intimate moments of the heart: the deep sorrow of our souls when we recognize our shortcomings and all that we have employed to cover up our remorse has been stripped away, and we cry out for redemption. The haunting horn choir, organ and male alto voice of this interpretation brings the pathos of this moment into sharp relief.

Jesu, Swete Sone Dere and I Have Set My Hert So Hie are two movements from the choral song cycle The Sunne of Grace by Leonard Enns. The entire work is based on Medieval texts dealing with the incarnation. The beautiful modal harmonies in the harp and soaring vocal lines of both pieces evoke the desire of our souls to worship our Creator, as do the guitar counterpoints of O Sacred Head Now Wounded, a 17th century tune harmonized in its best-known form by J.S. Bach and arranged here by Kevin Ramessar.

Michael Purves-Smith wrote Fern Hill for soprano, tenor, bass, horn and harp, to celebrate the wedding anniversary of close friends, using the beloved poet Dylan Thomas’s familiar text, and the idyllic joy that is expressed in the words and music reminds us of our childhood innocent love of nature, and in the words of the poet himself, was written “for the love of Man and in praise of God.”

Three organ works by Cabena from his Scraps workbooks serve as gentle interludes throughout the remainder of the CD, with Camille Saint-Saens Romance for horn and organ capturing the passion of romantic eros. Cabena’s Give Rest, O Christ with male alto, descant horn response and organ, and Consecration from his Requiem for the Victims of Terrorism, here arranged for soprano solo and organ, contain the most poignant moments of the soul… when we suffer loss.

And then at last, Purves-Smith’s fresh setting of Ben Jonson’s timeless toast to romantic intimacy Drink to Me Only (With Thine Eyes) for soprano, alto, tenor and bass brings the CD to a fitting close.