Yale Choral Artists has rapidly established itself as one of the most innovative professional choirs in the world, and its recordings of works by three Yale composers showcase the breadth of contemporary American choral music. They include the powerful ‘statement to the court’ by David Lang, whose ‘the little match girl passion’ won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Ted Hearne’s ‘Consent’ uses four disparate texts in a complex personal exploration of the role of language in his life, while Hannah Lash’s ‘Requiem’ is an expression of sorrow framed through a re-translation of the Latin text. Lang’s work as well as Lash’s are receiving here their world premiere recordings.

As one of the most socially conscious young composers in contemporary classical music, Ted Hearne has drawn on a multitude of influences to create Sound from the Bench. Written for the supple, ethereal voices of Philadelphia's world-renowned chamber choir The Crossing, the four works presented here tap into themes as varied as racial divides ("Privilege"), government secrets ("Ripple"), love and its dark permutations ("Consent"), and corporate personhood in the eyes of the US Supreme Court ("Sound from the Bench"). The title piece also features the edgy electric guitars of Dither's Taylor Levine and James Moore, as well as the rhythmic flourishes of percussionist Ron Wiltrout. Taken as a whole, this is some of Hearne's most wide-ranging and adventurous work—a siren call that resonates with unusual passion in these politically charged times.