Known to Dreamers: Black Voices in Canadian Art Song is a new CD from Centrediscs and the Canadian Art Song Project containing Canadian art songs composed by or setting lyrics by Black Canadians, sung by Black Canadians.  The first set on the disk is Robert Fleming’s The Confession Stone (Songs of Mary) which sets texts by Owen Dodson’s texts about the life of Christ from his mother’s point of view.  It’s a very beautiful piece and must be in the running for the most performed Canadian song cycle of all time!  Curiously though it’s only been recorded commercially once before (by Caroline Gélinas on ATMA Classique).  The singer here is Measha Brueggergosman-Lee.  She wouldn’t be my first choice for this piece but she sings it pretty well.  I find her style a bit mannered but she’s accurate and her diction is good.  Steven Philcox accompanies with great skill (as he does on all the tracks).

Elliott Madore’s first set is “A Broken Appointment” and “Now Blue October,” two songs by composer Larry Strachan on poems by Thomas Hardy and Robert Nathan.  Interesting music and very well sung indeed.

Jonelle Sills contributes The Colour of Joy; a cycle by composer/writer Maria Thompson Corley and writers Kanika Ambrose and Christene Browne dealing with West Indian immiogrant experience in Toronto.  These are really interesting and pointed texts and they get a jazzy/bluesy setting with a really interesting piano part.  The overall effect is quite hard hitting.  It’s also very Toronto.  Where else would it be obvious that a song called “Elias 511” was about Bathurst Street?  Jonelle sings in a much more overtly “classical” manner than Measha with a vewry clear, pure sound and crisp diction.  This is well worth a listen.

The final set is Moths by James Rolfe and André Alexis (the CASP 2013 commission).  It’s perhaps a bit surprising that this hasn’t been recorded before either.  I was at what I think was the first performance of this piece in 2014 and I don’t think I can improve on my description from then…

The final piece, and main event, was this year’s CASP commission; Moths by James Rolfe to texts by André Alexis.  We got an interesting introduction by the composer who explained the piece as a dream journey permeated by the ideas of light and dark, the soul and an extended metaphor of cloth and moths.  The close collaboration between librettist and composer was very apparent with a very tight integration of text and music.  I loved the texts, which are slightly surreal and very vivid.

Stitch up this longing,embroidered
with cities and rooms
trees and oceans
talking heads on countertops
horses falling from the sky
and minarets on tundra

I could have picked many such extracts.  Here too, the piano seemed to be in a genuine conversation with the singer, as in all the best art songs. 

The singer that day was Brett Polegato but here it’s Elliott Madore and he’s very good; singing very beautifully and with perfect diction.

The recording is excellent.  It’s a digital only release in MP3 and FLAC (CD quality and 96kHz/24bit) formats, plus streaming services  I listened to the hi-res version.  There is a digital booklet with loads of information, bios and full texts.

There’s not nearly enough Canadian art song on record so this is a very welcome release.  It’s due out on March 1st 2024 but it’s available for pre-order now at https://linktr.ee/knowntodreamers where you can also find the booklet..

Catalogue information: Centrediscs CMCCD 34224