Soprano
Ruby Hughes
has a knack for innovative programming, but she may never have done as well as she does here on this selection of songs about death for voice and string quartet.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
is certainly unfamiliar territory for the contemporary-oriented
Manchester Collective
(the album came together because its violinist,
Rakhi Singh
, and
Hughes
were schoolmates), and rarely does he rub up against the likes of
Caroline Shaw
and
Errollyn Wallen
, yet everything hangs together perfectly as various moods toward death are explored. The album title comes from a song in
Wallen
's set,
Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals?
, which, despite the grim text of the song (which is
's own) and the humorous cycle title, has a kind of lightness.
John Tavener
's
Akhmatova Songs
are an uncommon example of secular music from this composer, and they are gorgeous.
begins confidently, introducing herself a cappella with the
Brian Elias
song
Meet Me in the Green Glen
(to a poem by
John Clare
); she is followed by the string quartet by itself in
Shaw
's melancholy
Valencia
. Everything builds to a climax in the "Urlicht" movement of
Mahler
Symphony No. 2 in C minor
, then recedes with
Deborah Pritchard
Peace
as a contemplative finale. Contemporary and traditional repertory works have rarely been as well woven together as they are here, and the album has a deep seriousness that will stay with the listener. The
BIS
label contributes excellent sound on an album that made classical best-seller charts in early 2024. ~ James Manheim