Jake Runestad: Sing, Wearing the Sky
Naxos American Classics

That composer Jake Runestad (b. 1986) has achieved so much success before the age of thirty-five makes his accomplishments all the more impressive. Versatile and prolific, he's written for orchestra, wind band, chorus, chamber groups, and opera, and received numerous awards, including the 2017 McKnight Fellowship. His choral compositions are particularly well-regarded for their expert craft and emotionally potency, which makes Sing, Wearing the Sky , only the second album of his music to be issued, an especially appealing proposition.

The ten pieces (half of them world premiere recordings) show the Denver-based choral ensemble Kantorei to be a superb interpreter of his material. Artistic director Joel M. Rinsema directs the group, whose fifty-two members—all volunteers—include choral music educators, vocal teachers, church choir conductors, doctors, social workers, accountants, and so on. Kantorei, like Runestad, has one previous album to its name, 2018's Kim André Arnesen: Infinity: Choral Works and performs at major choral conventions and works with composers of international standing. That its mission is “to elevate the human experience through choral excellence” makes it the perfect match for Runestad's music.

One of the major attractions of the release is the diversity of its content and the presence of strings, piano, and percussion on four of the ten settings. One comes away from the release mindful of the composer's range, with the set-list ranging from the epic opener The Secret of the Sea (2018) to many rapturous settings, and clear about the reasons for his music's appeal, it being material of high quality yet also accessible and relatable. Exaltations of nature and humanity provide illuminating uplift, but serene and grief-ridden expressions appear also.

With the choir augmented by piano, percussion, and a small string ensemble, the opener's epic character is not only reflected in the dramatic scope of its tripartite design but in the texts by Whitman, Longfellow, Hilda Doolittle, and the Inuit shaman Uvavnuk composing its libretto. Premiered at the Sydney Opera House, The Secret of the Sea was inspired by the site's proximity to the sea, and in accordance with that Runestad selected texts relating to it. Tonal contrasts distinguish the parts, with the words in the first part, “The Unbounded Sea,” celebratory, those in the second, “Crash On Crash,” agitated, and the text in the third, “The Light that Fills the World,” rooted in a cultural story describing the Inuit peoples' connection to the sea. Such a wide-ranging textual dimension demands an equally broad musical conception, which Runestad's most assuredly is.

Despite its comparative brevity, the unaccompanied Alleluia (2013) likewise extends broadly, from rapturous episodes to meditative ones. Also like the opening piece, Alleluia is in three parts, with a joyful declaration, accented by hand-clapping and a dance rhythm, followed by a reverent episode and eventual reinstatement of the opening. The album's uplifting title track sees Runestad using text by Lalla (1320–1392) to capture the magnificence of natural creation and the spiritual rewards it provides, the choir's jubilant expressions wonderfully amplified by piano, violin, and percussion. Jubilation likewise informs 2017's Proud Music of the Storm , Runestad's rousing expression of praise a dynamic complement to Whitman's words. Figuring prominently in the ten-minute performance, pianist Mac Merchant provides resonant counterpoint to the choir's commanding vocalizing. Let My Love Be Heard (2014) reduces the recording's level to a hush, the change granting the listener an opportunity to savour the beauty of the voices and the splendour of Runestad's writing. As powerful is Fear Not, Dear Friend (2012) for the glory of Kantorei's voices and its ability to segue seamlessly from full-throated affirmation to a whisper.

Based on a selection from Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet (1929), Live the Questions (2016) mirrors in its gentle musical character the author's sage counsel: “Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday in the future, without noticing it, you will live your way into the answer.” Whereas its words derive from a long-adored work, those in We Can Mend the Sky (2014) derive in part from a then-fourteen-year-old from Somalia, Warda Mohamed, a student in Runestad's sister's English class who emigrated with her family to escape violent civil war. Contributions from soprano Juli Orlandini and percussionist Rachel Hargroder (bass drum and djembe) add considerably to the music's impact, which conveys both the tumult associated with the girl's Somalia experience and hope for the future (conveyed in the choir's ecstatic voicing “If we come together, we can meld a crack in the sky”). Commissioned by the Wooster Chorus, Ner Ner (2014) parts company with the other pieces in basing its text on nonsense syllables, Runestad intent in this case on exploring different vocal techniques. Shushes, whoops, and voice percussion effects combine to end the album on a playful note, its irreverence merely one more colour in the composer's panoramic palette. As is often the case, however, it's in the album's quieter passages that the full artistry of both Kantorei and Runestad is most powerfully revealed.

September 2020