Great Fuguing and More

The Overgrown Path points us to a new CD featuring music by Duckworth, Part, and Bryars (among others). Here's a little of the review:

The story of this adventurous new CD of contemporary choral music starts early in the 19th century in the rural southern states of America. At that time shape notation, or 'fa-sol-la', was an important force in democratising music and it allowed Baptists and Methodists who were outside the education system to sight-read 'fuguing tunes' and simple chorales. Reforming academic musicians rejected shape-note singing but it continued in rural communities in Appalachia using old editions of hymn collections, the most widely used of which was William Walker's 1835 The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion.

The final part of the review goes like this:

Surprised by Beauty is released on the tiny Boston based Brave Records label, and I have to ask why aren't more CDs like this being released?

Read the whole post here.