Modern Masters is unaccompanied choral music chosen and/or written for Octarium by living composers. The CD includes music of composer collaborators such as Mark Adamo, Rene Clausen, Daniel Gawthrop, Stephen Hatfield, Libby Larsen, Morten Lauridsen, Stephen Paulus, Steven Stucky, and Eric Whitacre, as well as “On Green Mountains” by Steve Danyew, the winner of the 2009 Octarium Composition Competition. WHAT THE COMPOSERS ARE SAYING ... This is unquestionably the finest, most sensitive and thoughtful rendering of this piece that I have ever heard and is among the top three or four performances of anything of mine that I've yet encountered. Balance, blend and intonation are absolute perfection, your recording venue is magical and I can't wait to hear the whole disc! Daniel Gawthrop, Lo How a Rose Octarium has a very, very beautiful, cultivated, musicianly sound, which is lovingly recorded here. The choir overall has a wonderfully mixed, organ-like blend--the men in particular---and they make the silences as absorbing as the phrases. Mark Adamo, Pied Beauty Listening to your recording, I realize that other performances I’ve heard of the piece create a kind of generalized brown aura when some of those changes come, as opposed to actually striking the chord. It is a great satisfaction to hear Leah on the solo, with the personality in the tone carried with such quiet strength through the different registers of the voice. As someone who works mostly with young singers I have never heard this solo sung by a voice whose berries and tannins have balanced, a voice that has ripened into itself, so there is much deep pleasure in hearing the phrasing and poise and control of both soloist and choir. Stephen Hatfield, Double Shot