Stories Out Of Cherry Stems
Navona, 2022
8/10
Listen to Stories Out Of Cherry Stems
The composer Peter Dayton pens a chamber vocal album that spans several centuries in scope and welcomes text from Jordi Alonso, Pablo Neruda, Louise Gluck, Oscar Wilde, Rita Dove, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Max Ehrmann that are illuminated by Katie Procell’s stunning voice.
The album leads with the bright, expressive singing of “Entwine Our Tongues: Sapphic Fragments”, where Andrea Morris’ smooth oboe, Brian Tracey’s well timed clarinet and Jennifer Hughson’s strategic bass clarinet illuminate Procell’s robust pipes, and “Si Solamente” follows with Lavena’s moody violoncello helping cultivate a very stirring presence.
The back half of the listen offers the atmospheric viola of Eric D’Alessandro and dreaminess of Erin Baker’s harp via the moving and absorbing album highlight, “Lost Daughter: Songs on The Myth of Persephone”, and “Desiderata: Ten Pieces of Wisdom” exits the listen with Kyle Blake Jones handling soulful alto sax as Procell’s poetic and diverse singing unfolds with much grace.
A powerful listen that can also at times be delicate, Dayton creates a stunning, original body of work that will certainly impress the chamber and vocal music inclined.
Travels well with: Michael Murray- Passages; Georges Raillard- Fading Sounds