To Speak to Our Time: Choral Works by Samuel Adler Gloriæ Dei Cantores & Richard K. Pugsley

• Samuel Adler (b. 1928): A Hymn of Praise:
• 1 Adler: A Hymn of Praise 02:21
• Let Us Rejoice:
• 2 Adler: Let Us Rejoice 03:19
• My Beloved Is Mine:
• 3 Adler: My Beloved Is Mine 04:03
• Choral Trilogy:
• 4 Adler: Choral Trilogy: No. 1, Why Have You Forsaken Me? 03:36
• 5 Adler: Choral Trilogy: No. 2, The Spirit Helps Us 03:18
• 6 Adler: Choral Trilogy: No. 3, Sing a New Song to God 02:36
• Psalm 23:
• 7 Adler: Psalm 23 05:22
• To Speak to Our Time:
• 8 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 1, Prelude I 02:58
• 9 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 2, Chor der Wandernden 03:30
• 10 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 3, Interlude I 01:04
• 11 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 4, Psalm 121 01:58
• 12 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 5, Interlude II 02:47
• 13 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 6, Psalm 111 03:07
• 14 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 7, Interlude III 01:18
• 15 Adler: To Speak to Our Time: No. 8, Hymn 10 03:57
• How Sweet the Sound:
• 16 Adler: How Sweet the Sound 03:51
• Total Runtime 49:05

Info for To Speak to Our Time: Choral Works by Samuel Adler

Samuel Adler believes “Life is a Gift.” The risk-taking composer of 400 published works in all media taught for 63 years at Juilliard, and Eastman and has given masterclasses and workshops at over 300 universities world-wide. Having studied with Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, Randall Thompson and more – he knows just about everyone on the 20th Century American music scene and has received numerous awards including ASCAP’s Aaron Copland Lifetime Achievement Award. At age 10 he narrowly escaped Nazi Germany during Kristallnacht “the night of broken glass.” As he and his father collected sheet music in the loft of the synagogue saving all that they could on that terrifying night, soldiers heard them down below. It was the sudden collapse of a pipe organ that allowed Adler and his father to run and escape through an underground tunnel. His family took the last train out of Germany with their bags full of sheet music, paving the way for Adler to study and nurture his musical gifts in America. At age 94, he continues to compose, living life to the full. His "life-affirming" spirit comes through powerfully in this album. These texts recount God's goodness on the journey of life and through the hills, valleys and mountaintop experiences. The texts from the psalms cover every emotion from pain to joy, to disappointment to elation, from sorrow to hope.

Gloriæ Dei Cantores
Richard K. Pugsley, direction

Gloriæ Dei Cantores
has received extensive critical acclaim for its artistic elegance, performance authenticity, and compelling spirituality. Sharing its vision of inspiration and hope for over 30 years, Gloriæ Dei Cantores has toured extensively, touching the hearts of audiences in 24 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America. The choir has appeared on the concert stage and in recordings with Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Samuel Adler, Mark O’Connor, Stephen Cleobury, Vladimir Minin, and the late George Guest, Mary Berry, and Margaret Hillis, among others. Highlights of the choir’s career include three invitational tours of Russia, the opening of the 900th anniversary of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, live broadcasts with the BBC, the soundtrack of Lorenzo’s Oil, and performances in some of the finest concert halls throughout Europe. Its discography of over 50 recordings is distributed in the United States through Gloriæ Dei Cantores Recordings, Paraclete Press, Inc., and Naxos of America, Inc. The choir makes its’ home in Orleans, MA.

Richard K. Pugsley
Known for his musical intuition and performance authenticity, Richard K. Pugsley has been applauded for his “expert conducting” (Classics Today) with “clarity and instinct for high impact moments” (San Francisco Classical Voice), and for his ability to “reveal the details of each composition with a rare sensitivity and luminosity.” (New York Classical Review). Pugsley has conducted the internationally recognized Gloriæ Dei Cantores for over twenty years, and performed with the choir in concert halls and churches in twenty-four countries throughout Europe, Russia, and North America for over thirty years. His passion for enlivening the sacred texts of choral literature as relevant and present encounters of sung prayer spans the traditions of ancient Gregorian chant, to classic repertoire, modern works, and rarely-performed choral gems.

This album contains no booklet.