Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Heaven and Earth (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Cappella Records proudly announces the two-disc release of Heaven and Earth, performed by Cappella Romana with 45th Parallel Universe, directed by John Michael Boyer.

The release also features the world premiere of Heaven and Earth: A Song of Creation, a unique collaborative setting of the Creation Psalm (103 LXX) by six acclaimed Orthodox choral composers: Tikey Zes, Richard Toensing, GRAMMY® Award nominee Kurt Sander, Alexander Khalil, Matthew Arndt, and conductor John Michael Boyer. The Saint John of Damascus Society, which promotes new Orthodox choral music, commissioned Heaven and Earth for Cappella Romana in 2013 in honor of the 2012 Higgs boson discovery.

Richard Barrett, Cappella Romana’s Director of Publications, says in his extensive essay that Ikon of Light and Heaven and Earth are “complementary musical compositions that focus on these parallel aspects of light—supernatural and natural—in Orthodox spirituality.” The two works offer a transcendent experience of musical beauty–one informed by Orthodox spirituality and influenced by the contours of Byzantine chant. Ikon of Light explores the inner, mystical illumination of the soul as described by the medieval mystic St. Symeon the New Theologian. Heaven and Earth weaves Renaissance counterpoint, Slavic harmony, Georgian polyphony, and more around a central Byzantine melodic line. The composers create a tapestry of shimmering harmonies that finds unity through diversity, underscoring the Creation Psalm’s theme: “How magnified are your works, O Lord. With wisdom have You made them all!”

Tracklist:
01. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 1, Phós I (03:59)
02. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 2, Dóxa (04:14)
03. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 3, Triságion I (03:20)
04. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 4, Mystic Prayer to the Holy Spirit (20:20)
05. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 5, Triságion II (03:25)
06. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 6, Phós II (03:57)
07. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Tavener: Ikon of Light: No. 7, Epiphánia (04:16)
08. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Boyer: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 1, Come, Let Us Worship (04:38)
09. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Boyer: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 2, Stretching Out the Heavens (02:49)
10. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Zes: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 3, The Deep, Like a Cloak (03:33)
11. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Khalil: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 4, He Waters the Mountains (05:40)
12. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Sander: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 5, He Made the Moon (05:49)
13. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Arndt: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 6, There Is the Sea (07:19)
14. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Toensing: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 7, May the Glory of the Lord Endure to the Ages (08:52)
15. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Boyer: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 8, Glory to the Father… Both Now… (01:14)
16. Cappella Romana & John Michael Boyer with 45th Parallel Universe – Toensing: Heaven and Earth, a Song of Creation: No. 9, Alleluia… Glory to You… (04:10)