The first of two discs funded by a grant from the NEA, The Esoterics' sixth CD, SONETTARIA, presents fourteen settings of sonnets: a choral "sonnet of sonnets." Recorded after the SONETTO concert series in May 2006, this CD features six world premiere choral settings of Michelangelo, Rossetti, and Browning by Eric Banks, Lorri Kristin Frogget, and John Muehleisen. In addition, The Esoterics sings two sonnets of Petrarch by Lars John Werle, and five sonnets of Shakespeare by Paul Crabtree, Jaakko Mantyjarvi, and Dominick Argento. To complete this disc, the ensemble performs Three nocturnes by Carlos Chavez, and is joined by guest harpists Alexis Odell and Melissa Walsh to present Robert Moran's Notturno in Weiss. |
