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DAWN CHORUS ALBUM REVIEW QUOTES

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The New Yorker

“Dawn Chorus” is among its most compelling ventures. The album features eleven appealing works from a series of commissions inspired by America’s national parks and meant to be performed within them. Even in this studio recording, the elemental character conjured in the pieces—some sunny and frolicsome; others suffused with mystery and awe—is a welcome reminder of what endures just beyond our present isolation. -
Steve Smith. Complete review
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San Francisco Chronicle

...glorious set of musical travelogues...the music is vivid and beautiful enough to bring the landscape to you. -
Joshua Kosman. Complete review
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Kathodic

All the compositions, excellently interpreted and performed by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble directed by Bill Ryan, are of remarkable compositional workmanship, and denote a truly profound refinement and sensitivity. The result is an extremely stimulating musical work, made up of very different works, each uniquely describing the natural landscapes of American National Parks. -
Luciano Feliciani. Complete review
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Textura

The concept that inspired Dawn Chorus goes a long way towards distinguishing it from other new music recordings...yet even if the listener were ignorant of the theme the musical material would remain compelling on purely musical grounds, thanks to the quality of the composers' creations and the renderings given them by the ensemble...The level of musicianship is of professional calibre -
Textura. Complete review
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The Road to Sound

The music winds down different paths as each composer incorporates their interpretations of nature into sprawling and captivating melodies. The result is moving, drawing us once again towards the sublime in the meeting place of the natural world and art. -
Vanessa Ague. Complete review
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The Whole Note

Since 2014, the New Music Ensemble at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI) under director Bill Ryan has commissioned 20 American composers to respond musically to U.S. national parks, with the ensemble subsequently touring to perform at these sites. In their fifth release, the eight astoundingly talented student musicians perform 11 of these commissioned works. -
Tiina Kiik. Complete review