American Angels: Songs of Hope, Redemption, & Glory

Featuring

Marsha Genensky
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Susan Hellauer
Johanna Maria Rose
Anonymous 4
William Moore

E. J. King
Anonymous (Traditional)
William Batchelder Bradbury
Richard F. M. Mann
Lewis Freeman
Benjamin Shaw
B.F. White
Timothy Swan
Joseph P. Webster
J. P. Storm
Ananias Davisson
William Walker
Robert Lowry
Justin Morgan

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

Eighteenth-century New England tunesmiths, who were singing school masters, created their own compositions, often setting texts by English poet Isaac Watts.

Album & Artwork

The album cover features a detail from the Hudson River Quilt, created by Irene Preston Miller and the Hudson River Quilters between 1969 and 1972.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album "American Angels" explores Anglo-American spiritual vocal music, including songs of redemption and glory from the American Revolution to the present day.

Recording & Production

The album was recorded, edited, and mastered using DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in May 2003 at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm Ltd. Company, located in Marin County, California.

Historical Context

Singing schools in the rural South adopted a 'patented' notation using four different shapes for noteheads (triangle for fa, circle for sol, rectangle for la, and diamond for mi) to help students read music.

Historical Context

The practice of 'lining out' psalms, where a deacon read a line and the congregation sang it, was the main musical worship practice in the American Colonies.