Featuring Michelle Areyzaga, Leah Dexter, Jesse Donner, David Govertsen, Uniting Voices, Northwestern University Chorale, Alice Millar Chapel Choir.

In celebration of Earth Day, Cedille Records releases the world premiere recording of Stacy Garrop’s monumental oratorio Terra Nostra, “a spellbinding dive into the history of the planet” (Chicago Classical Review). Terra Nostra explores the relationship between humanity and Earth, and how humankind can re-establish a harmonious balance. Stacy Garrop’s music is characterized by its lyricism and vivid storytelling. She has been described by the Chicago Tribune as “one of Chicago’s most keenly sensitive composers” and praised by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for music that “excites the enthusiasm of performers and audiences alike,” while the Detroit Free Press remarks, “she has “a sharp ear for instrumental color and narrative form: She can tell a story.” Declared an “oratorio that embraces the whole world” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Garrop’s tour de force is an interconnected musical narrative presented in three parts: Creation of the World, The Rise of Humanity, and Searching for Balance. The multifarious text weaves together creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt, excerpts from the Bible’s Old Testament, classic poetry from Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and contemporary writings by Esther Iverem and Wendell Berry, among others.

A fine group of artists has been assembled to record this music. Michelle Areyzaga brings a luminous soprano while mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter offers deep rich sound. Together they sound fabulous in the duet “Binsey Poplars” which weeps softly and is laced with despair and desolation.

– M.L. Rantala, The Hyde Park Herald, May 13, 2024

STACY GARROP (B. 1969)

Part 1: The Creation of the World
1. In the Beginning (8:16)
2. God’s World (3:56)
3. On thine own child (2:28)
4. Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth! (4:16)
5. A Blade of Grass (2:06)

Part II: The Rise of Humanity
6. Locksley Hall (3:47)
7. Railways 1846 (1:49)
8. A Song of Speed (2:00)
9. High Flight (2:52)
10. Binsey Poplars (4:13)
11. A Dirge (3:53)

Part III: Searching for Balance
12. Darkness (3:57)
13. Earth Screaming (4:32)
14.The World Is Too Much With Us (2:54)
15.The Want of Peace (4:18)
16. A Child said, What is the grass? (2:59)
17.There was a child went forth every day (2:03)
18. A Blade of Grass/I bequeath myself (5:20)

Producer: James Ginsburg
Session Engineers: Bill Maylone, Eric Arunas
Mixing and Mastering: Bill Maylone

Recorded February 6 and 8, 2023 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall (Evanston, IL)
Terra Nostra is made possible by the generous support of Jim Stone and The Jerome H. Stone Family Foundation, Theodore N. Foss and Kent S. Dymak, and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fund for Vocal Recordings at Cedille Records.