From Wilderness
Navona, 2022
9/10
The composer Jeffrey Derus finds himself in the company of the conductor Brandon Elliott and the Choral Arts Initiative for this listen that covers landscapes from Mexico to Canada.
“Root: Survival Chakra & Journey Into Yourself” opens the listen with no shortage of atmosphere, as Kevin Mills brings cello into the warm, vocally harmonic display, and “Sacral: Emotions Chakra” follows with precise and cautious bells emitting mystery into the light climate.
Closer to the middle, “Southern California: No 7 Kennedy Meadows” showcases the sublime and very skilled singing from the choral group, while “Sierras: No 5 Echo Lake” brings Mills’ cello back, where the stirring strings add much to the very intimate landscape.
Deeper into the listen, one of the best tracks, “Oregon: No 6 Mt Hood Wilderness & No 7 Cascade Locks”, brings Anna Kietzman (soprano soloist), Genie Hossain (alto soloist), Taylor Jacobs (tenor soloist) and Kirk Averitt (baritone soloist) to the poetic delivery, and “British Columbia: Manning Park” exits with an alluring droning and subtle cello that’s fascinating from beginning to end.
A very well done record that combines orchestral sounds with a choir, for those with an ear for choral music, it just doesn’t get much better than this.
Travels well with: Peter Greve- Oerbos & Other Works Vol. II; The Music Of Rain Worthington- Passages Through Time