Chelsea Hollow’s Album of “Social Significance”

Soprano Chelsea Hollow (photograph by Veronique Kherian, courtesy of Aerocade Music)

Towards the end of last month, Aerocade Music released an album of performances by soprano Chelsea Hollow, accompanied by pianist Taylor Chan, entitled Cycles of Resistance. This amounts to the current generation’s venture into musical activism. If we acknowledge the impact of folk music, then it would be fair to say that these ventures date back to the origins of the American Revolution. More recently, the repertoire thrived during the last century, each half of which had its own genres.

For example, 1937 saw the premiere of the Broadway musical Pins and Needles, which included the first Broadway score composed by Harold Rome. The title of the opening chorus was “Sing Me a Song with Social Significance;” and it not only set the tone for the entire show but also became an anthem for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. During the Sixties, on the other hand, “social significance” was directed toward the Vietnam War; and the musical response amounted to folk-rock with very sharp edges. Cycles of Resistance has picked up the torch with songs by nine composers accounting for texts in Mandarin, Dutch, Turkish, Arabic, Sanskrit, Czech, and (of course) English.

Beyond language, however, Hollow has a vocal range that reaches beyond the stratosphere; and the composers she commissioned were not shy about taking her up there. As might be expected, there are occasions when it is difficult to follow the texts in the accompanying booklet; and one might do better to become familiar with those texts prior to listening to any of them. This would allow for more attention to Hollow’s voice, and that attention is definitely well-deserved. I would also recommend listening to each of the nine compositions without the context of the other selections on the album. Social messages signify most effectively when they are not competing with each other!