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Shared Ground
Alec Roth - Vikram Seth

Shared Ground

Ex Cathedra

Label: Signum Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0635212027028
barcode
Catalog number: SIGCD 270
Releasedate: 01-11-11
- Roth’s music is striking for its rich, beautifully crafted choral textures, ecological and metaphysical subject matter, and references to the great heritage of European choral music...Earthrise is a fabulous, 40-part unaccompanied choral work in three movements with the sort of poly-choral, lushly harmonised climaxes that send shivers down the spine.

Shared Ground is a set of works by the British composer Alec Roth, featuring several poems and sung texts by the Indian writer Vikram Seth. The title piece of the same name is inspired by Seth’s poetry following a decision to buy and live in the Old Rectory in Bemerton – the former home of the 17thcentury poet and priest George Herbert. Other works on the disc expand this idea of a shared home or dwelling, with Earthrise – the reflections of Apollo astronauts on viewing the planet from orbit – and Hymn to Gaia.

This disc follows the 2008 release of Roth’s Songs in Time of War featuring the tenor Mark Padmore with Philippe Honoré, Alison Nichols (harp) and Morgan Szymanski (guitar).