By Cathalena E. Burch

The last time True Concord Voices & Orchestra released a recording of works it commissioned from a major American composer, the Tucson choir earned a Grammy nomination; the composer, the late Stephen Paulus, won a posthumous Grammy.

Even before the release of “A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad” on Friday, Aug. 16, the recording’s centerpiece “Earth Symphony” already has earned Runestad a regional Emmy Award. At this rate, we’re expecting to see “A Dream So Bright” among the classical music nominees in November.

“A Dream So Bright,” recorded in May 2023 at Camelback Bible Church in Paradise Valley, delivers two powerful messages — the global costs of ignoring climate change and the human cost of war — that the world needs to hear.

It is a lush and gorgeous recording that will give you an emotional gut check.

There’s the stark realism of the opening work “Dreams of the Fallen,” commissioned by pianist Jeffrey Biegel who is featured on the recording, that takes you to the frontlines of war and into the psyche of a soldier fighting their own war-addled demons for a sense of normalcy. And though seen through the lens of an American veteran — the texts are from soldier-turned-poet Brian Turner — it’s easy to imagine the words resonating with those fighting in the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia’s unprovoked war with Ukraine.
War under any flag, this piece tells us, is heart-wrenching and soul-crushing.

Runestad’s music goes from lush and soaring to dissonant and frenetic, taking you into the psyche of a soldier who keeps “telling myself that if I walk far enough or long enough someday I’ll come out the other side” only to find themselves trying to escape “this ringing hum, this bullet-borne language” of “children their gravestones, their limbs gone missing.”

The choir, under the baton of True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan, balanced Runestad’s emotional rollercoaster, from horrific dread to reluctant relief.

Then there’s “Earth Symphony,” where the tone is less brutal but no less urgent. The five-movement symphonic monologue opens with shuddering brass and percussion as Mother Nature, the narrator, recounts “4 billion years of empty space dormant stone” that’s interrupted with the birth of humankind:

“You scorned the odds to be reborn as gods of reason, authors of wonder, inventors of alchemy, chemistry, astronomy,” the choir sings in a soulful tone. “You alone unwound the helix of my chi. You mirrored me to me.”
Mother Nature puts a mirror to our climate transgressions, from damming her waters to feeling like we had free reign to fly too near the sun with our wax wings.

One of the work’s most dramatic scenes unfolds in the fourth movement“Destruction,” with deep brass angrily cursing humankind making a mockery of nature before softer tones and voices return for the Lament, when Mother Nature seems to be throwing in the towel.

The message Runestad likely hopes resonates most deeply is “Recovery,” the solemn promise that it’s not too late to fix the mess. “There shall come a day like the first day, so heavenly, so clear,” the choir sings against a gorgeously cinematic soundscape that includes a sweet high pitch created by musicians rubbing the rims of wine glasses, a dominant flute and soaring strings.

“A Dream So Bright” on Reference Recordings is True Concord’s third release, following 2019’s “Christmas With True Concord: Carols in the American Voice” and its Grammy-nominated 2015 debut on Reference “Far In the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus.” The recordings were part of True Concord’s Dorothy Dyer Vanek Fund For Excellence, a $500,000 gift established by the
late arts patron to commission and record new choral works.