To Hold the Light The Same Stream & James Jordan

• Jackson Hill (b. 1941):
• 1 Hill: To Hold the Light 08:37
• Thomas LaVoy (b. 1990): O Great Beyond:
• 2 LaVoy: O Great Beyond: I. In Your Eyes 04:10
• 3 LaVoy: O Great Beyond: II. In a Strange Land 04:40
• 4 LaVoy: O Great Beyond: III. In Silence 05:04
• Cortlandt Matthews (b. 1992):
• 5 Matthews: Quoniam videbo caelos 08:19
• Peteris Vasks (b. 1946):
• 6 Vasks: The Fruit of Silence (Version for A Capella Choir) 04:12
• Peter Relph (b. 1992): Requiem:
• 7 Relph: Requiem: Ia. Requiem aeternam 03:56
• 8 Relph: Requiem: Ib. Kyrie eleison 01:22
• 9 Relph: Requiem: IIa. Dies irae 05:07
• 10 Relph: Requiem: IIb. Sanctus 02:06
• 11 Relph: Requiem: III. Agnus Dei 06:47
• 12 Relph: Requiem: IVa. Communion 01:29
• 13 Relph: Requiem: IVb. Pie Jesu 04:45
• 14 Relph: Requiem: IVc. In paradisum 02:48
• Total Runtime 01:03:22

Info for To Hold the Light

The music chosen for this recording is strangely and poignantly relevant, I believe, for each of us. We all now understand “The Fruit of Silence,” a motet that reminds us to visit those beliefs which are most sacred in the work by Cortlandt Matthews, or now, a deeply personal Requiem by Peter Relph that in reflection, remembers the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in this pandemic. And then there is the LaVoy work “O Great Beyond.” While all great texts speak to the universality of the human condition and, if are truthful, are timeless. Particularly the George Fox text set by Jackson Hill and the Tagore text set by LaVoy give us messages to reinforce the humanness of each of us for hope. Two works on this disc poignantly remind us of the passing of life in the Relph Requiem and especially the final movement of “O Great Beyond.” May these words give comfort to all those who endured the deepest of Life’s losses during our shared Pandemic journey. For, so many loved ones, goodbyes were said in silence, and alone.

It is our hope that all the music on this album will show us a way for living as we move forward and also give loving comfort to those who have lost loved ones." (James Jordan)

For Quakers, wisdom begins in silence. Quakers believe that only when we have silenced our voices and our souls can we hear the ‘still small voice” that dwells within each of us---the voice of God that speaks to us and that we express to others through our deeds. Only by listening in stillness for that voice and letting it guide our actions can we truly let our lives speak (p.3) (Robert Lawrence Smith in A Quaker Book of Wisdom)

"The Universe works in strange ways. Recorded in 2018, none of us could have known that when this disc was released the world would have lived through a life-altering pandemic or a tumultuous upheaval in the cultural awareness that now surrounds us. And the work that opens this disc the words of Quaker George Fox ends with the words “So be faithful and live in that which doth not think the time long” provides an haunting premonition regarding the time in which we live. Quaker George Fox in “To Hold the Light’ is strangely prophetic about these days and perhaps contains a future caution for us all.

"The Same Stream Choir is truly world class. I have never known a body of singers convey so much warmth, humanity and mutual empathy. It has been an honour and a joy to work with them." (Patrick Hawes)

The Same Stream
James Jordan, artistic director, conductor

James Jordan
Grammy™-nominated conductor James Jordan, Artistic Director and Conductor of The Same Stream is recognized and praised throughout the musical world as one of America’s pre-eminent conductors, recording artist, writer, music psychologist and innovators in choral music. He was described as a “visionary” by The Choral Journal, which cited his book Evoking Sound as a “must read.” His more than 45 books explore both the philosophical and spiritual basis of musicianship, as well as aspects of choral rehearsal teaching and learning and are considered to be essential books in the conducting profession. His book Evoking Sound has been praised by the Choral Journal as a “must read.” At Westminster Choir College he is professor and senior conductor, and he conducts Westminster Schola Cantorum and the critically acclaimed Westminster Williamson Voices. He is also director of the Westminster Conducting Institute and co-director of the Choral Institute at Oxford. ​

His recordings with the Westminster Williamson Voices have garnered wide critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Choir and Organ wrote about their Grammy™-nominated recording Annelies, “Jordan’s instinctive understanding of the score makes this a profound and emotionally charged experience.” 2017-2018 will mark the release of three new recordings with him as conductor: Silence into Light by the Westminster Williamson Voices; Abide, recorded by The Same Stream Choir and featuring the music of Thomas LaVoy, Dan Forrest, Peter Relph and Paul Mealor and Serenity-The Music of Paul Mealor, also recorded by The Same Stream Choir. All are available through iTunes and Amazon.

Jordan’s career and publications have been devoted to innovative educational changes in the choral art, which have been embraced around the world. 2017-18 marks the publication of six new books. Inside the Choral Rehearsal is a landmark book applying the Music Learning Theory of Edwin Gordon to the choral rehearsal. Conductor as Prism, Conductor as Architect, The Complete Choral Warm-Up Exercises and The Anatomy of Tone and The Moral Acoustics of Sound will also be released. His residencies, master classes and guest conducting have taken him throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015, conducting the New York premiere of Paul Mealor’s Stabat Mater. He is also the conductor/artistic director of a new professional choir, The Same Stream which begins its touring schedule in 2018. In November 2015, Jordan conducted the world premiere of Paul Mealor’s First Symphony: Passiontide in Scotland. In 2016, the Westminster Williamson Voices was the first college choir to appear in the MetLiveArts series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art performing the virtuosic Kanon Pokajanen by Arvo Pärt.

James Jordan has been honored as a distinguished alumnus of Temple University, where he has been inducted into the University’s Hall of Fame. In 2016, he received the distinguished alumni medal from Susquehanna University. He was awarded the distinguished Doctor of Music degree by the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 2014 to honor his artistry and contributions to choral music throughout the world. The University, established in 1485, has awarded degrees throughout its history to only two Americans: James Jordan and Morten Lauridsen. He shares this honor with Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten and Joan Sutherland.

Booklet for To Hold the Light