THE NEW YORK TIMES: A New Gay Opera: The 8 Best Classical Music Moments of the Week on YouTube
THE NEW YORK TIMES: A New Gay Opera: The 8 Best Classical Music Moments of the Week on YouTube
BY ANTHONY TOMMASINI
"In his personal, boldly quirky score for 'Fellow Travelers,' Gregory Spears combines two seemingly disparate musical styles: American Minimalism and the courtly melismatic singing of medieval troubadours. His fascination with early music permeates an earlier work, his strangely mystical Requiem. Composed in 2010, it’s written for six solo voice and an unusual complement of old and new instruments: pedal harp, medieval troubadour harp, recorder, viola, chimes and electric organ. In some sections, like the eclectic opening of the Requiem Aeternam, you also hear echoes of Minimalism, especially the insistent riffs in the harps, which soon provoke the voices into agitated sputtering."