This EMI reissue an album of pieces by British composer Thomas Adès, written while he was still in his 20s and 30s, features primarily vocal and choral music. The largest and most ambitious work, America: A Prophecy (1999), was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. A cantata for soprano, chorus, and orchestra, it depicts the Spanish destruction of the Mayan culture, and its title and some of its text make it eerily prescient of the devastation of 9/11/2001. The texts are taken from Mayan prophecy and a song by Spanish ...
Read More
This EMI reissue an album of pieces by British composer Thomas Adès, written while he was still in his 20s and 30s, features primarily vocal and choral music. The largest and most ambitious work, America: A Prophecy (1999), was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. A cantata for soprano, chorus, and orchestra, it depicts the Spanish destruction of the Mayan culture, and its title and some of its text make it eerily prescient of the devastation of 9/11/2001. The texts are taken from Mayan prophecy and a song by Spanish composer Mateo Flecha that was written around the time of the Mayan conquest. It's a powerful and disturbing work that's bound to chill anyone with a memory of 9/11. Soprano Susan Bickley and the composer leading the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus deliver a gripping performance. The remaining works are considerably less grim, and some are among the composer's most immediately engaging. Stephen Layton leads the ensemble Polyphony in four quirkily appealing choral...
Read Less
