Page 67 - CJMay2026

Record ed Sound
Recorded Sound

Reviews
Reviews

Legends and Legacies ticular poignancy given the current political climate.
Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir The text is drawn from excerpts of public testimony
Rutgers University Glee Club given by WWII veteran Phillip Spooner in support of
Patrick Gardner, director marriage equality. Appropriately, the sopranos of Kirk-
2025; 2:18:00 patrick Choir deliver a more impassioned performance
here but always with measured control and impeccable
In 2023, Dr. Patrick Gardner retired from his posi- technique.
tion as distinguished professor and director of choral William Bolcom’s The Miracle is a whimsical, orches-
activities at Rutgers University after thirty years at the trated work that the Rutgers Glee Club has performed
institution and over forty years in higher education. on several occasions under Gardner’s direction. The
Throughout his tenure, he helped shape the musical poems by Arnold Weinstein describe imagined scenes
careers of countless individuals and built Rutgers into in the life of Renaissance painter Paolo Ucello as well
one of the major choral programs in the Northeast. as supernatural interactions with St. Francis of Assisi.
With Legends and Legacies, Dr. Gardner and the Rutgers Stylistically, Bolcom draws on influences ranging from
choirs have published a dense compendium of rep- mid-century experimental to jazz and musical theater.
resentative works recorded over the past fifteen or so Rutgers Glee Club effortlessly navigates the nine chal-
years to help document this extraordinary legacy. lenging movements, articulating the text with clarity
The album opens with Scott Ordway’s Three Ka- and humor throughout. Gardner’s familiarity with the
levala Songs, performed by Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir. work is evident, as the ensemble performs this some-
Though the pieces are set in English, Ordway’s compo- what frenetic piece with remarkable precision.
sitions show a clear reverence for the style of the great Toward the midway point of the record are four
Finnish composers of the early twentieth century. Like- works by Steven Sametz. Amicitia was commissioned by
wise, Gardner’s preparation of the choir captures the longtime Glee Club patron Robert Mortensen to hon-
pure intonation and resonance of traditional Finnish or the retirement of Patrick Gardner. Sametz’s choral
choral singing. Kirkpatrick Choir continues with two writing features lush, diatonic harmonies and paired
arresting works by Melissa Dunphy, another contem- voicings that unfold gradually over time. In Dulcis Amor,
porary composer who has had residency at Rutgers. Sametz explores the extreme high and low ranges of
What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach? bears a par- the tenor and bass voices, which are managed beau-

CHORAL JOURNAL May 2026 Volume 66 Number 8 65