Robert Kyr: In Praise of Music
Bridge

You should probably have your pulse checked if you don't feel wholly uplifted by the time Alleluia for Peace brings this hour-long collection to a glorious finish. Composer Robert Kyr is well-served by the vocal artistry of the Antioch Chamber Ensemble and its conductor and Artistic Director, baritone Joshua Copeland. Now in its twentieth-fourth year, the choral group comprises a core group of ten to twelve of the New York metropolitan area's finest singers and excels at repertoire ranging from early Renaissance to contemporary. Antioch's flawless intonation and finesse is an ideal match for Kyr, whose exultant choral music is distinguished by warmth, lyricism, and contrapuntal sophistication.

Despite the fact that there is much to despair over during these difficult times, Kyr's belief in the power of the arts and music to impart and sustain hope is borne out by the tone of the material on the release. In the composer's words, In Praise of Music “celebrates the many ways in which music can affect us as a transformative force within our lives”—as a healing power, spiritual force and comfort, and as inspirational catalyst for change, liberation, and peace. His humanistic values are reflected in the themes his music explores, from striving for peace and living in harmony with nature to spiritual issues such as compassion, healing, and forgiveness. Composition titles such as Songs of the Soul and On the Nature of Peace reflect his resolutely positive outlook.

The ten settings performed prove spiritually replenishing, especially when experienced collectively. Kyr's belief in music's power is imparted at the outset in the title work, written in 2006 and featuring text by the composer, when it declares, “O Music: / … You comfort the mourner with serenity and wisdom; / You heal the wounded with energy and new life…” The subsequent O Great Spirit (2009) shifts the focus to pleas for healing and enlightenment before the spotlight returns to music for In the Name of Music (2017) and its capacity for investing life experience with meaning.

One's thoughts turn to the horrors of 9-11 and other calamities during Veni Creator Spiritus (2005) upon scanning the translation from the Latin text sung by Antioch: “Day of wrath, that day / The world will dissolve in ashes; / What trembling there will be!”; true to his nature, however, Kyr embraces hope in the vision of peace and supplication with which the piece ends. In part an homage to Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, the three-part Santa Fe Vespers (2010) celebrates the majesty of creation and concludes with the mesmerizing sound of soaring solo and ensemble voices in “Seraphim.” The music is no less beautiful and may be even more moving when presented in a wordless form in the serene vocalise Dawnsong (2018).

Ode to Music (2013) distinguishes itself from the others in featuring males voices in a graceful three-part canon, and the rousing contemporary spiritual Freedom Song (2011) accomplishes the same to an even greater degree. Whereas a quietly stirring adaptation of the “prayer of peace” from St. Francis of Assisi, Voices for Peace (2002) is as reverential and soothing as one would expect, Alleluia for Peace (2003) ends the recording on an ecstatic note with the singing of “Alleluia” delivered in an array of harmonic styles.

August 2021