In Philadelphia, a choir among choirs

On Sunday afternoon at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, the Philadelphia-based The Crossing presents the final concert in its Month of Moderns series. Donald Nally's renowned group will do a world premiere by Ēriks Ešenvalds, plus works by Maija Einfelde, Gabriel Jackson and Tarik O'Regan.

 
 
Meanwhile, the group has an impressive new recording out, It is Time (Navona Records NV5845), with works by David Shapiro, Kile Smith, Paul Fowler, Frank Havrøy, Erhard Karkoschka and Kirsten Broberg. This superb program, most of which uses texts by Paul Celan (except for Fowler's gorgeous Breath, by Philip Levine), shows off the group's impeccable tuning, rhythmic accuracy and shimmering texture. Shapiro's title piece makes a blazing opening, but the album is almost worth getting just for the arresting final chord of Broberg's Breathturn that ends it all. The immaculate sound is by Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Online, who regularly records the ensemble in the Chestnut Hill church's pristine acoustic.