Rose of Sharon - 100 Years of American Music (1770-1870)

Rose of Sharon

100 Years of American Music (1770-1870)

From the Revolutionary War to the Civil War Songs

Ensemble Phoenix Munich

Joel Frederiksen

On Rose of Sharon, Joel Frederiksen and the Ensemble Phoenix present a program of rarely heard American vocal music from the 18th and 19th centuries. The release takes its name from a passage in the Song of Solomon that was set by William Billings in his 1778 book The Singing Master s Assistant. Billings is widely considered the father of American choral music. In his day, singing schools spread all over New England and played an important role in the development of an independent music tradition in America. With songs by the Quakers, Shakers and the Moravian Brethren as well as selections from the collections The Sacred Harp and Southern Harmony, the music on Rose of Sharon spans the years between the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Civil War a crucial period in the political and cultural birth of a new nation.

Reviews

But the real gem here is the disc from the Munich-based Ensemble Phoenix, directed by the American abroad Mr. Frederiksen: a widely varied collection of musical Americana rendered with consistent beauty and restraint. Mr. Frederiksen sets a soulful tone at the start with a solo rendering of the Shaker spiritual Lay Me Low and later adds the sober ballads The Death of General Wolfe and Captain Kidd. 

Three numbers by the great New England hymnist William Billings include the classic song that gives the album its title, I Am the Rose of Sharon. A Civil War segment looks southward with the instrumental ditty Dixie s Land and the song Maryland, My Maryland. A sheaf of Shaker spirituals offers two delectable solos: O Love, Sweet Love, performed by Deborah Rentz-Moore, a mezzo-soprano, and Stubborn Oak, by Ms. Brotherton.

This one is to treasure, from beginning to end. New York Times