IGOR STRAVINSKY:
CANTICUM SACRUM
with Tyler Duncan
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
SFS Media
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) announce the launch of SFS Media’s new Digital Concert Series on Apple Music and all major streaming and download platforms on January 10, 2020. In celebration of MTT’s 25th and final season as Music Director, the series will include live concert recordings from 2019–20 season concerts featuring composers that MTT and the SFS have championed throughout their decades together. This major new addition to the SFS Media catalog launches with the initial release of five San Francisco Symphony performances conducted by MTT and recorded in 96/24-bit quality in September 2019: Mahler’s Symphony No. 6; Stravinsky’s Canticum sacrum with tenor Nicholas Phan, baritone Tyler Duncan, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus; Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus; Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with Oliver Herbert; and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.
Canticum Sacrum
“Igor Stravinsky is a giant among composers—not because he pioneered a new sound that revolutionized music, but because he did it more than once. Insatiably curious, Stravinsky reinvented himself again and again. And so it was that he shocked the disciples of the avant-garde by setting aside his bad boy image to find new ideas in classic structures. Using a style that came to be called Neoclassicism, Stravinsky found new freedom in economy, balance, clarity, and restraint.
Stravinsky had an abiding love of Venice, going so far as to choose the island of San Michele as his final resting place. Several observers have suggested that Stravinsky chose a five-movement design in Canticum sacrum to create an aural analogy to the five domes of Venice’s Saint Mark’s Cathedral, where the work would have its first performance. While Canticum sacrum reflects Stravinsky’s increasing interest in the discoveries of Schoenberg, something of the spirit of earlier Venetian composers, such as Monteverdi and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, also hovers over the work.” –San Francisco Symphony
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE
“Everything came off with clarity and conviction, from the opening Dedication that featured the two soloists and trombones to the almost militant exaltation of the final chorus. Tenor Nicholas Phan delivered a melismatic evocation of nature, enhanced by a meandering flute line.”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“…beneath it all runs a vein of expressive vigor, one that was deftly brought out by the eloquent soloists, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Tyler Duncan, and the Symphony Chorus led by Ragnar Bohlin.”
ARTS SF
“The later ‘Canticum’ was in the atonal style of the composer’s final two decades, a bold choice that may have won some plaudits, but few fans. Its Latin texts were sung by baritone Tyler Duncan, who radiated power, and tenor Nicholas Phan, who radiated sheer lyricism.”