The American Repertory Singers has got to be one of our very finest domestic choirs specializing in modern American music. The program's title piece is from James Hopkins whose smooth, dreamlike setting of "Come to Me in the Silence of Night" has enjoyed considerable success. Other discoveries include David Conte's feverish "Charm Me Asleep", a splendid setting of Elizabethan poet Robert Herrick's restless verse. Also new to me is Jane Marshall, who contributes a delightful pair of bookend madrigals. The contrast between the initial song's blithe and bouncy air and the warmly reminiscent comfort of its companion piece is very touching. Daniel Pinkham's "Love Can Be Still" is a cycle of four poems by Norma Farber, full of startling turns of musical pphrase, infusing Pinkham's unmistakable American idiom with some complex, late-Monteverdi tricks. Perhaps the best are from Nestor himself: the four sentiment-drenched setting of Four Part-songs from the "Highlands", including two traditional texts and two from Robert Burns. Three include lovely obbligatos for solo flute. "Ca' the Yowes" and "Will ye Go, Lassie, Go?" are especially haunting. |