Description
This new recording from the Diversions label presents a focused showcase of the vocal music of Chicago-based composer Doug Lofstrom. Featuring baritone Ryan de Ryke, soprano Kim Jones, tenor Ryan Townsend Strand, pianist Daniel Schlosberg, and a fantastic session chamber orchestra, the album includes the world premiere recordings of three song cycles--Three Sandburg Songs, All Must End, and Myths and Accidents--as well as the first recorded excerpts from Lofstrom's opera Two Soldiers. The collaboration began in 2014 when Lofstrom met de Ryke and Schlosberg during a guest lecture. Their artistic rapport led to these deeply expressive song cycles, culminating in the revival of Two Soldiers--originally premiered in 1990 and reimagined in 2020 during the COVID pandemic with updated vocal and orchestral scoring. The opera, a sweeping tale of destiny and survival set in WWII, follows two soldiers--one Russian, one German--through a world in upheaval.