Under the direction of founder Andrew Ousley, Death of Classical has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Green-Wood Cemetery, presenting performances in the crypt. These are intimate shows, preceded by light snacks, thimblefuls of spirits and a ramble through the cemetery’s grounds. Over two subsequent weekends, Death of Classical programmed two works that are both contemporary and crowd-pleasing: Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer-winning Partita for 8 Voices and Gelsey Bell’s mɔɹnɪŋ [morning//mourning].
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In the decade since Partita for 8 Voices won her the Pulitzer, Shaw has covered herself in glory, collaborating with musicians from Kanye West to Yo-Yo Ma and writing music for film and television. She also found herself at the center of a brief controversy with prominent Inuit singers who accused the composer of appropriation. That is to say, she’s fully made it, in every imaginable way, and Partita marks a turning point not just for her career but for how contemporary composers treat the voice. Shaw’s piece has singers hum, mumble, speak, yodel, sing, buzz and breathe in a raucous celebration of the first and most human of instruments.
Partita was a solid bet for Death of Classical and Fourth Wall Ensemble, and while the performance was highly competent, some of the luster that attended the piece a decade ago has dulled simply because we’ve been living in a post-Partita world. Fourth Wall, under the direction of Christopher Allen, placed Shaw in conversation with........