Ensemble Altera: The Four Elements

Ensemble Altera, directed by its founder Christopher Lowrey, presents The Four Elements, a journey through wind, earth, water, fire and, finally, quintessence—the ancient idea of a fifth essence. Across five chapters, music from the Renaissance to the present explores these forces not as fixed substances but as living metaphors: breath and inspiration, rootedness and belonging, stillness and flow, passion and transformation, and what may lie beyond the material world. Known for imaginative programming and a warm, focused transatlantic sound, Ensemble Altera brings together music by William Byrd, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Owain Park, Rebecca Dale and others. The programme pairs choral landmarks with new commissions and fresh arrangements, including world-premiere recordings of Michael Garrepy’s Flame of Love and Daniel Gledhill’s For the beauty of the earth, winner of Ensemble Altera’s 2021 Composition Competition. The result is a vividly shaped meditation on nature, humanity and imagination, moving from the first breath of wind to the stillness of quintessence.

1: The Wings of the Wind
2: Westron Wynde
3: Hope Is the Thing With Feathers
4: Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine
5: Terra Tremuit
6: Upheld By Stillness
7: Bailey
8: For the Beauty of the Earth
9: Deep River
10: The Blue Bird, Op. 119, No. 3
11: There Will Come Soft Rains
12: God's Grandeur
13: Io Piango
14: I Saw Eternity
15: Flame of Love
16: Salutation

Composer: Ivo Antognini, Eriks Esenvalds, Michael Garrepy, William Byrd, Charles Villiers Stanford, Owain Park, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Piers Kennedy, Lucy Walker, Rebecca Dale, Kenneth Leighton, Daniel Gledhill

Number of Discs: 1

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