David Lang: Love Fail (2014)

American composer David Lang's works are often conceptually tailored to a particular and unusual ensemble that matches the thematic content of the work. He has composed a piece (Crowd Out) for 1,000 voices, inspired by the sound of soccer crowds in Britain. Nevertheless, Love Fail marks something of a milestone for him: he has never before written for a group with the chops of the medieval-oriented female vocal quartet Anonymous 4. (Shelter, composed for Trio Mediaeval, is a pale comparison.) For Anonymous 4, too, the ... Read More

American composer David Lang's works are often conceptually tailored to a particular and unusual ensemble that matches the thematic content of the work. He has composed a piece (Crowd Out) for 1,000 voices, inspired by the sound of soccer crowds in Britain. Nevertheless, Love Fail marks something of a milestone for him: he has never before written for a group with the chops of the medieval-oriented female vocal quartet Anonymous 4. (Shelter, composed for Trio Mediaeval, is a pale comparison.) For Anonymous 4, too, the recording is a milestone: around the time it was released in 2014, the group announced its retirement after the 2015-2016 season, and it perhaps points the way to a future in contemporary music for its supremely talented members. Love Fail, like many of Lang's other compositions, is somewhat unclassifiable, and in this lies its appeal. It's not a cantata, song cycle, or opera, although it was originally presented on stage. The work is a rumination in 15 short sections on the medieval idea... Read Less