Reading Bach Choir presents a concert inspired by the poetry of Robert Graves and the music of American composer Morten Lauridsen. His monumental Mid-Winter Songs for chorus and piano redefines a cantata or choral cycle of music. Written in 1980, the settings of poems by Graves continue to sound fresh and engaging forty-five years later. Equally engaging are the Sept Chansons and Un soir de neige by Poulenc in addition to the Trois Chansons of both Debussy and Ravel. The thread of stirring through the long winter sleep continues to the modern day with Joanna Marsh’s In Winter’s House and a fitting connection to both Lauridsen and Graves with Everyone Sang by Matthew D. Nielsen.

POULENC Un soir de neige

POULENC Sept Chansons

DEBUSSY Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans

RAVEL Trois Chansons

MARSH In Winter’s House

NEILSEN Everyone Sang

LAURIDSEN Mid-Winter Songs

Nicholas Shaw, piano