Description
Audio
A holiday carol with text by Eleanor Wilner. Recorded on PENTATONE's December Celebration. (2015)
Video
How Bright the Darkness · Lester Lynch
December Celebration: New Carols by 7 American Composers
℗ 2015 PentaTone
Released on: 2015-08-07
Artist: Lester Lynch
Choir: Volti
Conductor: Dawn Harms
Orchestra: New Century Chamber Orchestra
Composer: Luna Pearl Woolf
Duration
6 min
Premiere
Premiere Recording:
Volti Chorus
Musicians of the New Century Chamber Orchestra
Dawn Harms, conductor
Lester Lynch, baritone
Volti Chorus
Musicians of the New Century Chamber Orchestra
Dawn Harms, conductor
Lester Lynch, baritone
Commissioner
Commissioned by PENTATONE for their December Celebrations album.
Instrumentation
1perc / hp / baritone solo / SSA choir / strings
Text
Eleanor Wilner :
Winter Solstice's Carol
Program Notes
Harp and percussion set the stage for Eleanor Wilner’s “Winter Solstice Carol”, in which solo baritone introduces a festive subject which inspires polyphony in the strings and women’s chorus.
“a spill of notes from the mountain spruce,
green through all the time of white–
how bright the darkness is tonight!”
How Bright the Darkness is also available arranged for SATB choir.
This piece has been recorded on the Pentatone label by the Volti Chorus and New Century Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Dawn Harms. To buy the album and listen to excerpts, click here.