The American Choral Review (ACR) is a journal exploring choral repertoire and issues of performance practice pertaining to music of all periods, as well as commenting on recent scores, recordings, books, and performances. The ACR strives to make recent research more widely known to conductors, and to bring great as well as lesser-known repertoire to the attention of the choral community at large. Chorus America is pleased to announce a transition for the ACR to a new home with the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO). More information here.
American Choral Review
A Response to Mattheson’s Criticism of Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis
This final issue before the American Choral Review transfers to a new home at the National Collegiate Choral Organization features a study of Bach’s use of rhetorical devices in Cantata Ich hatte viel Bekummnernis, BWV 21 and an interview with two singers from the ensemble New York Polyphony.
Conducting, Interpretation and Two Underappreciated Legacies
This edition of the American Choral Review focuses on the discipline and practice of conducting.
The lead article documents Shaw’s early years and his rise as a professional conductor with FredWaring and the Pennsylvanians, as well as his process of developing an understanding of choral music as an art. The issue also includes reviews of the documentary Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices and a recent recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis by the Bach Collegium Japan.
With this issue of the American Choral Review, Timothy Newton assumes the editorship. The lead article examines new perspectives on Howells’ compositional activity in America by presenting three case studies. The issue also includes a concert report from Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, and reviews of recent recordings The Wonder of Christmas and The ABC’s of Russian Diction.
This issue of the American Choral Review examines the life and legacy of little-known conductor Theodore Thomas, who in the mid 19th-century almost single-handedly built two of the premiere orchestras in the country and was one of the first conductors to treat the chorus as a serious ensemble, fostering performances of large choral-orchestral works.
This issue of the American Choral Review looks at composer Zakaria Paliashvili's setting of Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Co-authors John A. Graham and Parker Jayne explore Paliashvili's Georgian influences and how his version fell into obscurity after the Russain Revolution.
In celebration of the Britten centennial in 2013, this issue of American Choral Review features two articles on the music of Benjamin Britten: distinguished scholar Alfred Whittall offers reflections on the composer’s choral writing, and co-authors Thomas Folan and Nancy S. Niemi explore issues of identity in Britten’s Cantata Academica.
This issue provides insight into the music of Hamish MacCunn, Scottish romantic composer, conductor, and teacher. Jennifer Oates gives us a complete listing of MacCunn's choral works, including audio file examples.
Community and Ritual in the Age of AIDS
American Choral Review 54 includes an analysis of John Corigliano's work inspired by the AIDS crisis as well as reviews of summer festivals.
Handel’s practice of borrowing from other composers allows us the opportunity to probe into the great composer’s style and creative thought processes. A number of scholars have shown without question that the majority of Handel’s borrowings transform his source materials into new creations entirely his own. But what does “entirely his own” really mean?