Lamenting Earth

Description

"Lamenting Earth," the latest album by GRAMMY® Award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan, in collaboration with the Jasper Quartet and his long-time collaborator, pianist Myra Huang, explores the interaction of humanity with nature through the works of composers from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The lieder of Franz Schubert evoke water, calm, and solitude, reflecting human emotions. Vaughan Williams' "On Wenlock Edge," inspired by the poetry of A. E. Housman, places the individual within vast cycles of time and landscape—hills, wind, and earth—that persist beyond joys and sorrows. In Ives' "Housatonic at Stockbridge," memories, hymns, and the river merge into a vibrant meditation on transcendence, where nature becomes a spiritual threshold rather than just a backdrop. Among the 21st-century works is Patrick Castillo's "Skyline Palimpsest," a tribute to New York, his hometown, that questions the influence of nature on the future of the metropolis. The title piece, composed by Canadian Vivian Fung, pairs the poem "O" by American writer Claire Wahmanholm—described as a lament, an elegy, and a passionate call to action—with the engaged writings of Generation Z on climate change. Nicholas Phan's warm voice and his passion for vocal chamber music bring striking beauty to this rich and varied repertoire, articulated around a central theme.