North Woods: A COVID-19 Recording Project

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all live performance for the foreseeable future. In this climate of uncertainty, eight current and former Peabody Institute voice students, directed by Dr. Beth Willer, collaborated via Soundtrap to record Scott Ordway's "North Woods," an octet for treble voices.

Project Notes

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all live performance for the foreseeable future. In this climate of uncertainty, eight current and former Peabody Institute voice students, directed by Dr. Beth Willer, collaborated via Soundtrap to record Scott Ordway’s North Woods.

Ordway composed North Woods as an octet for treble voices in 2014, commissioned by the Lorelei Ensemble. With texts by Roman historian Tacitus (c. CE 56 – c. 120), North Woods explores the geographical and psychological concept of the “North,” a frontier that mysteriously beckons us, remaining vast and ever elusive.

With the support of a Peabody Career Development Grant, we later collaborated with Baltimore-based recording engineer Andrew Bohman. Andrew transformed our disparate tracks, which had been recorded separately in our homes, into a cohesive musical work. While our version of North Woods would ideally have been performed live, it stands as a testament to what is creatively possible in unprecedented circumstances. To learn more about composer Scott Ordway and North Woods, click here.

I found that the beech forests and chalk cliffs of Jasmund National Park, footage taken on a recent trip to Rügen Island in northern Germany, are a stunning representation of one kind of “North,” the farthest north that I’ve ever been.

North Woods

Collaborator Info

Camille Crossot | soprano I
Madeline Huss | soprano II
Noelle McMurtry | soprano III
Mercy Calhoun | soprano IV
Maddalena Ohrbach | alto I
Jamie Leidwinger | alto II
Taylor Boykins | alto III
Claire Galloway Weber | alto IV

Andrew Bohman | audio engineer
Dr. Beth Willer | mentor & coach
Prof. Ah Young Hong | mentor

Texts

Text by Scott Ordway, after Tacitus

I.


The nights are not dark;
 the
Earth casts only a low shadow.

The level edge does not project the
Darkness high aloft

(and so) the shades of night do not
Reach the sky and stars above. [Ag. 2]

II.


To the north of it no land

Exists whatever, and upon that
Face beat the waves of a

Vast and shoreless sea. [Ag. 10]


And the rivers bend gently away
To lose themselves in the
Northern Ocean. [Ger. 1]

III.


They do not imprison their gods
Within walls, or represent them with
Human features; 
 Instead, they consecrate
Woods and groves,

And they call by the name of reverence. [Ger. 9]

IV.

Appendices I. II. III.


Sources: Tacitus: Agricola and Germania (both ca. 98 A.D.)