Motion Studies The Crossing & Donald Nally

• Justine F. Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth:
• 1 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 0. Introduction 01:36
• 2 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 1. skimming 01:39
• 3 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 2. Her Heart 02:25
• 4 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 3. skimming.2/ad bits 01:28
• 5 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 4. She Feels 01:42
• 6 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 5. skimming.3/ad bits.2 01:11
• 7 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 6. The Only Sound 02:09
• 8 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 6a. But for their breath 00:46
• 9 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 7. Interrogation 1 01:33
• 10 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 8. skimming.4/Advertisement Final 01:21
• 11 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 8a. skimming.5 00:36
• 12 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 9. She Feels.2 01:27
• 13 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 10. Interrogation 2 01:42
• 14 Chen: Shallow Breath and Stealth: 11. Before it's too dark 07:14
• Nicholas Cline: Watersheds:
• 15 Cline: Watersheds: prelude: water-witching 17:22
• 16 Cline: Watersheds: I. water borders 03:39
• 17 Cline: Watersheds: II. the lace-like fabric of streams 02:47
• 18 Cline: Watersheds: III. a method for finding 01:44
• 19 Cline: Watersheds: IV. to encourage the habits of industry 04:39
• 20 Cline: Watersheds: V. threads of the community fabric 03:15
• 21 Cline: Watersheds: VI. rain follows the plow 02:41
• 22 Cline: Watersheds: VII. the gentle rain which waters 06:00
• Total Runtime 01:08:56

Info for Motion Studies

The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, returns to Navona Records with MOTION STUDIES: Justine Chen’s Shallow Breath and Stealth and Nicholas Cline’s watersheds.

Reflecting on a culture where data mining and government traceability have become normalized to the point of population complacency, Chen captures poet Jena Osman’s musings on the 21st-century reframing of paranoia, privacy, and the pervasive desire to run away from the data that follows us. Evidence of these reflections is present in the tittering, sometimes whispering, sometimes soaring, and often frantic utterances of the ensemble in an unnerving collection of sequences that paint an antagonistic image of the modern machine.

In Nicholas Cline’s watersheds motion is boundary rather than escape: the movement of water is a point of political power, of conservation and waste, of replenishment, and of damage and territorialism. Joined by PRISM Quartet leader Matthew Levy on tenor saxophone, The Crossing’s signature crystalline sound ebbs and flows as they sing the history of water in America, placing opposing views and theories next to each other, and yet never forgetting the simple, joyful experience of rain. Cline’s musical landscapes are gentle; they seem to carry hope and gratitude in topics otherwise causing angst and worry.

A 2024 Best Choral Performance GRAMMY® nominee and multi-GRAMMY® winning ensemble, The Crossing continually proves itself to be at the forefront of new choral literature and performance. MOTION STUDIES is a release not to be missed.

The Crossing
< Donald Nally, conductor
< Matthew Levy, tenor saxophone

The Crossing
is a professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. Consistently recognized in critical reviews, The Crossing has been hailed as “ardently angelic” (Los Angeles Times, 4/14) and “something of a miracle” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/14). Formed by a group of friends in 2005, the ensemble has since grown exponentially and “has made a name for itself in recent years as a champion of new music.” (The New York Times, 2/14). Highly sought-after for collaborative projects, The Crossing was the resident choir of the Spoleto Festival, Italy in 2007; appeared at Miller Theatre of Columbia University in the American premiere of James Dillon’s Nine Rivers with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE); joined Bang on a Can’s first Philadelphia Marathon; and has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Network for New Music, Lyric Fest, Piffaro, red fish blue fish, Tempesta di Mare Baroque Chamber Orchestra, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Toshimaru Nakamura, Dolce Suono, and in the summer of 2013, The Rolling Stones. The ensemble has sung in such venues as Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; they made their Lincoln Center debut this past summer in a world premiere of John Luther Adams in a collaboration with the Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, eighth blackbird, Jack Quartet, and TILT brass.

The Crossing frequently commissions works and has presented over forty world premieres. Upcoming projects include commissions with Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, David T. Little, Joel Puckett, Santa Ratniece, Caroline Shaw, Kile Smith, Lewis Spratlan, Hans Thomalla, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Toivo Tulev. The ensemble recently released two recordings on the Innova label: Christmas Daybreak– with world premiere recordings of James MacMillan and Gabriel Jackson—and I want to live – with the complete choral works for women by David Lang. Recordings soon to be released include Lewis Spratlan’s Hesperus is Phosphorus and Gavin Bryars’ The Fifth Century, both commissioned by The Crossing and on the Innova label, as well as Choral Music of Greg Brown on the Navona label. The Crossing is the recipient of two ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming as well as the Dale Warland Singers Commissioning Award from Chorus America.

Donald Nally
is responsible for imagining, programming, commissioning, and conducting at The Crossing. He is also director of choral organizations at Northwestern University and chorus master of The Chicago Bach Project. He has held distinguished tenures as chorus master for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Welsh National Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Spoleto USA, and for many seasons at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He has served as artistic director of the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati and the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. Among the many ensembles Donald has guest conducted are the Latvian State Choir in Riga, the Grant Park Symphony Chorus in Chicago, the Philharmonic Chorus of London, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. His ensembles have sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet, Spoleto USA, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and ICE; his work is heard on numerous recordings on the Chandos, Navona, and Innova record labels. Donald is the recipient of the distinguished alumni merit award from Westminster Choir College and the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America; he is the only conductor to have two ensembles receive the Margaret Hillis Award for Excellence in Choral Music - in 2002 with The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and in 2015 with The Crossing. His book, Conversations with Joseph Flummerfelt, was published in 2011.

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