The choir's sound has become even stronger, without losing its old virtues of clarity and spot-on intonation, and the choir itself performs with even greater assurance. It has become a first-class ensemble. The program overall demands more technique than the earlier CD, and the chorus doesn't disappoint. The composers are Holten and Malcolm Forsyth, a South African transplanted to Canada. Both have extensive catalogues, including large-scale instrumental works, and it shows in their choral work.
Most choral compositions derive their structure from that of their texts.
However, composers can play the more difficult game of shaping the text to a musical, usually symphonic form. Holten and Forsyth usually do the second. Many of the works on this program run longer than the usual two or three minutes. Three run more than nine, and all show the composers' experience with large instrumental structures. The Holten works here favor slow tempi and rich, sustained tones.