Skylark: Once Upon a Time

Brilliantly conceived and executed, Once Upon a Time is a magnificent addition to Skylark's discography. It's the fifth album by the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble, which artistic director Matthew Guard assembled in 2011from a group of Atlanta- and Boston-based friends and colleagues and which has been recognized for its extraordinary musicianship and innovative programming, the new release a perfect illustration. Enchanting treatments of two classic fairy tales, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” by the Brothers Grimm and “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, are presented, with vocals by Skylark (four sopranos, four altos, five tenors, and five basses) augmented by Sarah Walker's narration; in terms of musical content, choral pieces by composers such as Francis Poulenc, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Veljo Tormis are intertwined with original material by Benedict Sheehan.

Devised by Guard in 2016, the ‘story choral concert' concept originated from the idea of blending short choral works of recent vintage with familiar stories in a way that would prove mutually enhancing. With Walker, a second-generation professional storyteller, on board, Guard and Skylark began by coupling choral material with the stories, with musical choices made not necessarily by way of any direct connection to them but more guided by mood and their image-evoking qualities. Three years later, Guard expanded on the original design by enlisting choral composer Sheehan to write interstitial pieces that would provide a connective tissue for the narration and choral material. His contributions enact smooth segues between the spoken word sections and the musical settings, so smooth, in fact, they make everything feel as if it naturally fits together. Despite the fact that the music for the two works stems from a multitude of composers of varying nationalities, the sixty-eight-minute recording holds together remarkably well as a cohesive and seamlessly integrated presentation.

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