Paul Moravec: Sanctuary Road
Naxos

Coming after 2008's The Blizzard Voices, Sanctuary Road is the second in what composer Paul Moravec (b. 1957) calls his “American historical oratorios.” An extraordinary vocal work that draws on the stories chronicled by William Still in his1872 book The Underground Railroad, Sanctuary Road, created by the 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer in collaboration with librettist Mark Campbell, recounts the oft-clever strategems used by African American slaves to escape into free states and Canada during the early- to mid-1800s (Still himself abetted the movement of some 800 fugitive slaves). One can't help but be staggered by the courage and perseverance they showed as they made their way north via secret routes and safe houses, and their stories constitute an epic saga that its creators have brought thrillingly to life. The fifty-minute oratorio ends on a note of glorious exultation, but in truth the piece, especially when its richly melodic and emotionally expressive score is so accessible, is in its entirety a triumph.

That the recording is a live document of the work's first performance at Carnegie Hall on May 7th, 2018, with music director Kent Tritle leading his Oratorio Society of New York Orchestra and Chorus and five soloists, is itself noteworthy, given the performance's seemingly error-free execution and the recording's absence of ambient noise. Without being apprised of the live detail, one would naturally take Sanctuary Road for an in-studio performance. The stellar singing of soprano Laquita Mitchell, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, tenor Joshua Blue, baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather, and bass-baritone Dashon Burton does much to distinguish the release, which includes a twenty-minute audio documentary featuring interviews with the creators, its conductor, and the singers.

In keeping with the oratorio form, Sanctuary Road features both aria and recitative. Structurally, it opens with Still in narrator mode, the Philadelphia-based figure recognizing the need to document in writing the history of the Railroad; subsequent parts see him conducting interviews with fugitive slaves for the records that will form the basis of his book. Interestingly, Moravec and Campbell used Bach's St. Matthew Passion as the model for their creation, combining as it does four aria-singing soloists, a chorus, and narration. While Burton conveys Still's words with authority and dignity, the soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone relate their own stories as movingly. Each appears both alone and in concert with others, in such instances their voices communing elegantly (the female singers dueting in “Aunt Abigail,” for example).

“Write” opens the piece hauntingly with Still (Burton) declaring his commitment to preserve in writing the stories of his subjects, fervent in his belief that their testimonies should never be forgotten. The lyrical “Quietly” follows, with the soloists collectively expressing their hope for freedom, after which the pace accelerates urgently for “Reward!” where the chorus personifies slave hunters issuing wanted posters for the capture and return of the slaves to the South, and in the three “Run” episodes that recount the desperate movements of Wesley Harris (Blue) in his run to freedom.

The drama and suspense inherent in such a saga translates into a presentation of cinematic power, especially when it cuts between breathless chase scenes and eloquent vocal episodes. While all of the stories are striking, two especially stand out: “The Same Train” recounts the tense trip to Philadelphia by Ellen Craft (Bryce-Davis), who disguised herself as an elderly, ailing white man accompanied by a manservant (in reality her husband-to-be); and “This Side Up,” which describes the twenty-seven-hour journey Henry “Box” Brown (Merriweather) endured in a mail crate from Richmond to Still.

Adding to Bryce-Davis's heartfelt performance in “The Same Train” is Mitchell's in “Rain,” where she gives voice to Clarissa Davis's pleas (“Come down, rain…”) as she sings longingly of liberation. Moving towards the work's close, an interlude appears presenting the chorus's wordless singing as the voices of fallen soldiers in the Civil War before “Finale” finds Still recovering his concealed records from “a shelf in Lebanon Cemetery” and reviewing the now-freed slaves' expressions of gratitude and appreciation.

Of course the audio documentary is a bonus you'll revisit less than the oratorio proper, yet it's nonetheless rewarding to discover how meaningful the Sanctuary Road experience was for the five soloists, especially when each has a personal connection to the story—Merriweather's ancestors were slaves, for instance. The work resonates all the more powerfully when such details are shared, and if it resonates for you, too, you might want to consider marking your calendar: on May 6, 2020 at Carnegie Hall, A Nation of Others, Moravec's third “American historical oratorio” (its libretto again by Campbell) and the subject matter this time concerning the arrival of immigrants to Ellis Island on a single day in 1921, is scheduled to premiere.

February 2020