New Release: Mornings Like This

Recently we released the album, Mornings Like This: Songs of Daybreak and Childhood, so today we would like to not only give you the details of the release, but also feature some insights on the album provided by the conductor, Robert Bode!

Mornings Like This: Songs of Daybreak and Childhood
Choral Arts (formerly Choral Arts Northwest)
Lee Thompson, Melissa Loehnig, piano
Robert Bode, conductor

The "Pure Sound" of Choral Arts under their new director, Robert Bode presents several world premiere recordings, including The Dream Keeper, a piece in four movements, each featuring a different text from Langston Hughes. Other pieces feature the poetry of Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman and the conductor of Choral Arts, Robert Bode.

"My Lord, what a mornin'"—Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949)
Sunrise, from Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun (1990)—Michael Hennagin (1936–1993)
The Waking (2008)—Giselle Wyers (b. 1969) *
Fern Hill (1960)—John Corigliano (b.1938)
Dawn (2008)—Eric William Barnum (b.1979) *
A Child's Prayer (1996)—James MacMillan (b.1959)
In Dreams—John David Earnest (b. 1940)
The Dream Keeper—William Averitt (b.1948) *

• The Dream Keeper
• Dream Variations
• As I Grew Older
• Song

Will there really be a "Morning"?—Craig Hella Johnson *
Beautiful River (1995)—arr. William Hawley (b. 1950)
* World Premiere Recordings

Conductor Robert Bode on "Music Like This":

I am very proud of this CD, my first with the wonderful singers of Choral Arts. In it we explore "Mornings," not just the actual beginning of the day, but also more metaphorical associations, such as renewal, childhood, and beginnngs. There are some very familiar things on this CD, including the spiritual "My Lord, What a Mornin'" and the American hymn "Shall We Gather at the River?" The CD also features 5 previously unrecorded pieces, including "The Dream Keeper" by William Averitt on poems of Langston Hughes and the first recording of the version for chorus and piano of John Corigliano's "Fern Hill." This music is hopeful, challenging and timeless. It has heart!