A New England Requiem
Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness
The Wonders of Thy Grace
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Take My Life, That I May Be
Jubilate Deo
The Lord's Prayer
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis
O Gracious Light
You God, Are My Light
O Sacred Banquet
The Beautiful Land
Blessed Rest

American composer, singer and professor Scott Perkins writes choral music steeped in tradition. There's a balanced measure of light and darkness, gravitas and elation to his music that generates an evocative, haunting beauty within its sound canvas. His A New England Requiem in particular, scored for choir, soprano soloist, and chamber orchestra, is quite moving and deeply expressive. The booklet notes point out that: "it was commissioned by Lars Gjerde and the music ministry at Bethesda Lutheran Church in New Haven, Connecticut, and pairs texts from the Roman mass for the dead with poems by four New England writers: Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorne of Massachusetts, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of Maine, and Lydia Sigourney of my homestate of Connecticut. While the ancient Latin and Greek texts of the requiem mass are focused on rest and peace for the departed, the English-language poems are intended to bring comfort to the living." So while it avoids the 'fire and brimstone' power of some of the portentous settings of the Requiem by Mozart, Verdi and Berlioz for example, it perfectly balances hope with loss and sadness.

The dynamic balance in this recording between the Da Capo Players, soprano Jasmine Gish, organist Tom Mueller and the Da Capo Choir itself is perfectly achieved. Within the first minute of its Introit, with its haunting trumpet call echoed by the choir, I was hooked and spellbound. And the way Scott Perkins revisits the same haunting trumpet call at the end of the Lux aeterna is quite touching, and may even bring a tear to your eyes, the way any good Requiem Mass should. At the time of this review, it seems there are only two other recordings available featuring the music of Scott Perkins ... we need more!