Review: Paul Moravec - "Sanctuary Road" (Naxos, 2019)

The beginnings of this new work, here receiving its world premiere recording, can be traced to a conversation between Jody Spellun, a singer in the Oratorio Society of New York, and its conductor, Kent Tritle. Ms. Spellun asked Tritle if the choir might perform a piece addressing the issue of racial disparity in America. Impressed by Moravec’s “The Blizzard Voices,” which she has recently sung with the Oratorio Society, Spellun decided to commission a work on the subject from Moravec, resulting in “Sanctuary Road,” a 50-minute large scale oratorio for five soloists, chorus and orchestra.

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In 1872, William Still published “The Underground Railroad,” a book chronicling the harrowing stories of slavery and escape he collected while serving as a conductor on the railroad. His book serves as the primary source for Mark Campbell’s masterful libretto, in which soloists and choir are asked to be both commentators and real-life characters.

The work opens with a gentle thrumming on the harp; the soloists, overlapping one another, list the names of slaves who escaped using the Underground Railroad – a particularly heartbreaking opening. Bass-baritone Dashon Burton, personifying William Still, answers with his intent to create a book of their stories, as the chorus cries “Our testimony, our stories cannot be forgotten.” The second movement, Quietly, introduces what Moravec describes as a “freedom theme,” which reappears at several key dramatic moments, building an impressive structural unity across the work. This is quickly followed by Reward! (track 3), strings and xylophone anxiously propelling the music forward as the chorus of slave hunters spits out the names, descriptions, costs and special skills of escaped slaves.

The arrival of the fourth movement brings a shift to personalized stories: The Same Train tells the story of Ellen Craft (beautifully sung by mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis), who escaped on a train, all the while fearfully sitting across from her owner’s brother, who never recognizes her. This Side Up (track 7) recounts the story of Henry Brown, who traveled over 26 hours in a crate from Richmond to Philadelphia with breathing holes “no bigger than a button”. His aria is answered by the choir (track 8) singing words from Psalm 40 – the same words Brown spoke when the crate was finally opened. Tenor Joshua Blue is compelling in the three movements entitled Run (tracks. 6, 9 & 12), that depict the panic of being constantly chased as you escape to the North. In movements 5, 10 & 13, William Still, movingly portrayed by Dashon Burton, interviews slaves to document their life in bondage and to share what they might expect to experience now as free people. The Finale (track 16) opens with the soloists singing words of gratitude and good news sent to Still from former slaves, answered by all voices joyfully singing, “Shout from every rooftop, loud as can be: Free!”

Largely Tonal, Intensely dramatic

Moravec’s writing is largely tonal (though certainly dissonance is used to paint the horrifying parts of the stories) and intensely dramatic. Tritle leads a moving performance and his musicians sound completely at home in this new score. The soloists inhabit their various characters with complete conviction. The recorded sound is a touch too dry, but it allows us to hear every strand of the music-making and the choir is balanced forward enough to ensure they are also an integral part of the unfolding drama.

I cannot write that Moravec’s composition proved overwhelmingly affecting to me in the same way that Britten’s War Requiem did the first time I heard that work. Yet each time I returned to Moravec’s new composition my admiration for his work grew, and the music stayed with me long after I stopped listening. There is surely no better indicator of how successfully the work expresses its profound and still timely message.

This is a significant and moving release of a contemporary work that needs to be heard – urgently recommended.

Paul Moravec – “Sanctuary Road” (2017)
Laquita Mitchell – Soprano
Raehann Bryce-Davis – Mezzo
Joshua Blue – Tenor
Malcolm J. Merriweather – Baritone
Dashon Burton – Bass-baritone
Oratorio Society of New York Chorus and Orchestra
Kent Tritle – Conductor
Naxos, CD 8.559884

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