Song Offerings: Choral Works by Christopher Tin


 

MUSIC FOR SINGING

Song Offerings: Choral Works by Christopher Tin is a compilation of two multi-movement works for chorus and small instrumental ensemble: 'Song Offerings', based on the Nobel Prize-winning book of poetry Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, and 'Transfigurations', featuring lyrics by the foremost choral lyricist of our times, Charles Anthony Silvestri. Both works were performed by Denver's premiere choral ensemble Kantorei, and recorded by the Grammy-winning production team Soundmirror (Blanton Alspaugh, producer and Mark Donahue, engineer).

 


Released November 7, 2025
Tracklist
1. Song Offerings: I. Let My Country Awake
2. Song Offerings: II. This Rhythm
3. Song Offerings: III. Stream of Life
4. Song Offerings: IV. Only Thee
5. Song Offerings: V. Joy
6. Transfigurations: I. Fire Prelude
7. Transfigurations: II. Photon
8. Transfigurations: III. Ozymandias
9. Transfigurations: IV. Iphis
10. Transfigurations: V. Jeshua
11. Transfigurations: VI. Tat Tvam Asi

Song Offerings
'Song Offerings' is a setting of poems from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali, a stunning book of devotional poetry that made Tagore the first non-European to with the Nobel Prize in Literature. The piece is a return to Christopher's more joyous style of choral writing (e.g. "Baba Yetu", "Waloyo Yamoni"). It's densely packed with melodic ear worms and syncopated rhythms, and is heavily inspired by his childhood love of classic rock (particularly The Beatles), jazz, and musical theatre. It was commissioned by Kantorei, and is conducted by their Artistic Director Joel M. Rinsema.
Transfigurations
'Transfigurations' is a collaboration with pre-eminent choral lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri. The six-movement suite is a meditation on change in its various forms--from sunlight transforming into life, to the erosion of empires, to an ancient Roman myth about a girl transforming into a boy, to the ascension of Christ. The suite ends with a lyrical nod to Rabindranath Tagore, bridging the two works, thus achieving Christopher's signature device of albums that seamlessly loop back to their beginning. The piece was commissioned by the Chromatica Chorale, and is conducted by Christopher himself.

Written for Live Performance
As opposed to Christopher's previous large works (e.g. To Shiver the Sky, The Lost Birds), which were primarily composed as records, both "Song Offerings" and "Transfigurations" were conceived as works for live performance by choirs of all sizes, ranging from professional to community. They feature a smaller instrumental accompaniment (either solo piano, or an eclectic band of piano, 2 celli, double bass, and an added soprano saxophone for 'Transfigurations'), and are sung entirely in English.
A New Type of Album
These last few years Christopher has taken on many more commissions in the classical world: for choral music, operas, and concerti. Many of these commissions also involve the commissioning ensembles making a recording of the new work, so in addition to his major concept albums like 'The Drop That Contained the Sea' and 'The Lost Birds', there will be a new type of album that will come with more frequency: recordings of his concert works. 'Song Offerings: Choral Works by Christopher Tin' is the first of this new type of album, which are often conducted, recorded, and produced by others, using studios and techniques different from Christopher's usual production process.

 

 

 

 

 

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