Innova Records releases creative sounds that range from jazz to modern classical. These two recent releases do some amazing things with and for the human voice.
Dominick DiOrio directs the vocal ensemble Tabitha Burchett/sop, Michael Linert/cten, Christopher Sokolowski/ten and Erik Krogh/bari, teaming them with percussion, strings and electronics. An a cappella “Virgina: The West” have Malcolm Cooper & Mark Phillips/ten joined with Sooyeon Kim & Cecilia Ratna/sop delivering some lovely elliptical harmonies, while Nicholas Chuaquiten and Elisabeth Culpepper/sop are featured as the come out in front of some chorus jabs on “Night City” and electrical droplets on “Flying Inside Your Own Body” while tweets and effects serve as background for “July.” A piece by Igor Stravinsky has the Zora String Quartet delivering three movements of rich tones, while a mix of strings and voices on Dominick Diorio’s “Stravinsky Refracted” has the voices use modern harmonies along with prancing pulses. Modern ethereal voices.
A twenty movement Zealot Cantiles by Lansing McLoskey uses the writings of Waole Soyinka along with an ensemble including Doris hall-Gulati/cl, Rebecca Harris/vi, Mandy Wolman/vi, Loreanzo Raval/va and Arlen Hlusko to team up with various vocalists in solo and group format. The lyrics mainly focus on Lansing McLoskey’s spiritual journey, crises and observations on the struggles he sees over worldwide zealotry. The songs are honest appraisals of life in a post-modern age, sometimes frustrated with the conflicts of worldly affairs, and other times praising the classic Greek orator Demosthenes. The music ranges between Bach and modern life after Bartok, with the rich voices basically asking if we can all get along. The music and message serve as a starting point for conversations, and at least one would love to know why the composers and poets had their own moments of “losing faith” as they state.