Tuesday Tones (Black History Month)

Courtney Bryan is a composer from New Orleans, born in 1982, who is currently a professor of music at Tulane University. She holds a doctorate and was a 2023 MacArthur Fellow. She is also, by the evidence of the piece featured here today, an amazing composer with a thrilling approach of mixing Gospel, jazz, and soundscapes to create something modern and new.

Sanctum is meditative and haunting, which is almost certainly exactly what Dr. Bryan was attempting to achieve. The following is from her website:

Sanctum, for orchestra and recorded sound, explores the sound of improvisation in Holiness-preaching traditions. I drew inspiration from recorded sermons: The Praying Slave Lady by Pastor Shirley Caesar, The Eagle Stirs Her Nest by Reverend C. L. Franklin, and Reverend Charles Albert Tindley’s hymn, Stand By Me. Included are the voices of Marlene Pinnock and of activists in Ferguson, Missouri from 2014. Sanctum is my artistic response to recent events of police brutality. By employing techniques of layered repetition, rhythmic intensity, sounds of moaning and whooping, and voices of the past and present, Sanctum invokes solace found in the midst of persecution and tribulation. Sanctum was commissioned and premiered by American Composers Orchestra with the generous support of The Jerome Foundation and The Peter Heller Fund. The chamber version was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta.

The performance of Sanctum featured below, by the London Sinfonietta, takes place at a socially-distant concert from 2020, if you’re wondering why the audience is so sparse. I recommend listening on earphones or earbuds, if you can; the work is deeply immersive with its blend of live musicians and recorded sounds.