Congratulations to Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw, whose disc Narrow Sea, released in January 2021 on Nonesuch Records, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 64th Grammy Awards Ceremony.
The disc features Shaw’s 2017 five-part work Narrow Sea, written for and performed by Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish, which sets texts from The Sacred Harp nineteenth century collection of shape-note hymns. The disc received international attention for the imaginative collaboration, rich and complex rhythms and textures, and inspired exploration of the American folk tradition. Among other accolades, BBC Music Magazine included it in their list of best classical albums released in 2021 so far, describing it as “exquisite”, “imaginative and expressive”. Full reviews can be read here, and trailers for each of the tracks on the disc can be found at the links here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).
Narrow Sea is one of two outstanding albums with Caroline Shaw that Sō Percussion released in 2021. It was followed by Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, which features songs that Shaw and Sō Percussion developed over three days of studio time, experimenting with ideas that arose while recording Narrow Sea. Shaw and Sō Percussion have toured the discs live across the USA, and will be heard later this season at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Norfolk and Norwich Festival for Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part's German and UK premieres, with further performances next season planned in Finland, Czech Republic, Spain and the UK.
More information and ways to listen to the album can be found here. A warm congratulations to all involved with this superb disc!
