ILLUMINE
OUR HEARTS
Liturgical
and Secular Jewish Choral Music
AVNI, BLOCH,
FREED, NELSON, OLSHANETSKY, ROSSI, SCHALIT, STARER & TICHELI
SURSUM
CORDA
Lester Seigel conductor
& organist
SCHANTZ ORGAN
(54-rank instrument, installed 1962)
MS1295 ~ $14.95
"Sursum Corda's debut CD [is] a fascinating excursion through Jewish liturgical
and folk music... The group navigates a 16th century psalm setting, a Chanukah
folk song and a Sephardic song with spirit and confidence... Seigel's
arrangement of "Avinu Malkeinu," and the Ladino (Spanish-Jewish) song,
"Cuando El Rey Nimrod," highlight the Middle Eastern exoticism that
embraces much of this music. They are at once searching, reverent and
celebrative. The choir's greatest assets are its carefully balanced blend... if
you select a single track to sample, make it Ticheli's "There Will Be
Rest." Its swells, accents and harmonies unfold in chilling beauty... an
impressive first effort from a choir that promises to put Birmingham on the
choral map."
[
Four Stars out of Five ]
Michael
Huebner, The Birmingham News ~ November 2009
*
* *
The
selections on this disc, while eclectic, represent the wide net Sursum Corda
spreads in its mission to bring a variety of Jewish and Christian choral works
to its audiences. Our aim with this recording is to offer Jewish works from a
variety of Jewish cultures, historical periods and purposes. We include a couple
of works from other traditions that we particularly enjoy singing. Sursum Corda
takes its name from the Great Thanksgiving prayer in the Christian Eucharistic
liturgy; it means “Lift up your hearts.” The selections on this disc have
served to “illumine our hearts” – hence
our disc’s title - and that is our wish for you as well.
Sursum
Corda, based in
Birmingham, Alabama, was formed in 2006 as a twelve-member ensemble. Now grown
to sixteen, the ensemble has received critical acclaim in for performances
ranging from Medieval to modern works. Its conductor, Lester Seigel, is
Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Birmingham-Southern
College and Organist/Choirmaster at Canterbury United Methodist Church. Jewish
music has always been important to Seigel. For many years he was Music Director
at Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El,
where he led a professional choir for weekly Shabbat evening services, High Holy
Day services, and special performances of major choral works with orchestra.
Since its premiere, Sursum Corda has performed annually in Birmingham and toured
other cities in the south. Most recently, The Birmingham News in 2009 noted the
group’s “strength, individuality and bold transparency.” The press has
noted that the group “prides itself on a range of repertoire from the
Renaissance to the modern,” and its special affinity for “the dense
20th-century harmonies of contemporary composers such as Ruth Watson Henderson [Missa
Brevis], Frank Ticheli [There Will Be Rest, heard on this album] and Morten Lauridsen
[Sure on this shining night].” Since
its premiere, Sursum Corda has performed often in Birmingham and toured to other
cities in the south. In a 2009 review The Birmingham News noted the group’s
“strength, individuality and bold transparency... Sursum Corda prides itself
on a range of repertoire from the Renaissance to the modern,” and its special
affinity for “the dense 20th-century harmonies of contemporary composers.”
“Assertive
and confident a cappella singing was the rule...More noticeable was the choir’s
sublime harmonic blend and shapely dynamics...”
The Birmingham News, December 2008
“Sursum
Corda revealed gorgeous blend, precise diction and impeccable ensemble that
director Lester Seigel has been honing since December 2006.”
The
Birmingham News, June 2009
www.sursumcordaal.com
PERSONNEL
Kirk
Alford, Ted Clark, Jennifer Faulkner, Virginia Goodall, Allen Harrell, Rebecca Harris,
David Higginbotham, Caitlin Huie, Randy Mayo, Stan Nelson, Gloria Parvin, Joy Ryder,
Daniel Seigel, Jane Seigel, Alan Taylor and Ellen Thomas
