Christopher Tyler Nickel - Symphonic Highlights from the Gospel According to Mark (Clyde Mitchell)

Information

Composer: Christopher Tyler Nickel

• The Gospel According to Mark (Symphonic Highlights)

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra

Clyde Mitchell, conductor

Date: 2023

Label: Avie Records

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

Multi-award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel has created a truly unique magnum opus: The Gospel According to Mark, a seven-hour oratorio setting the disciple's text from the King James bible in it's entirety. What originated as an idea to distil the text, as most passion music does, Chris quickly became more interested in setting the complete prose. He chose to compose a work employing an English Protestant text, rather than the more traditional Latin or German, envisioning The Gospel According to Mark as a seven-hour-long prayer. With the text as Chris' starting point, the musical motifs and melodies followed, setting concepts including the themes of teaching, healing, miracles, forgiveness, death and resurrection. The scope of the text is illuminated by scaled-down forces - chamber-sized string orchestra plus two horns, oboe (doubling oboe d'amore) and cor anglais (doubling bass oboe), with soprano, alto, tenor and bass solo voices. Unlike other oratorios, the singers do not represent any particular person but rather act as a chorus of storytellers. Chris explains, "This nebulous use of the voices, which sidesteps role assignment, keeps the vocal parts more abstract and hence the listener focused on the text." With Chris' faith as his guide, The Gospel According to Mark takes the listener a journey through the contrasts of peacefulness and agitation, darkness and light.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Christopher Tyler Nickel (born 1978) is a Canadian composer. A graduate of the University of British Columbia School of Music, he pursued further studies in New York and Los Angeles. Nickel has written numerous concert works premiered by major ensembles across Canada, the United States and Europe. He is also an accomplished screen composer, having written music for hundreds of hours of film and television for clients such as Discovery Channel and History Channel. His work has received multiple awards and nominations, including honors from the Park City Film Music Festival and the Leo Awards.

***

Clyde Mitchell is the Founding Music Director of Lions Gate Sinfonia and creator of the Lions Gate Youth Orchestra. Following studies at Louisiana State University and California State University, Northridge, he enjoyed a distinguished career as a hornist with major orchestras in Colombia, the U.S. and Canada. He later earned advanced conducting credentials from CSU–Long Beach and the University of Southern California, leading to a nine-year tenure with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Mitchell also maintains an active international guest-conducting career and is a dedicated music educator.

-----------------------------------------------------------