It’s not a recording that will be a hit on the Billboard charts, but the CD the Herricks High School Chamber Choir produces annually of its finest work has a very personal value far beyond pop charts.
“It’s really very special, especially for the seniors,” said Herricks senior Meera Desai. “It does leave a legacy for everyone in chamber choir.”
In addition to her ensemble signing on this years’s recording, “Songs of Hope and Compassion,” Desai delivers a soprano soli with Veronica Mak on “Duerme Negrito,” a Venezuelan lullaby.
Herricks High’s Chamber Choir director Louise O’Hanlon first had the idea of producing the very limited edition CD six years ago to enable her choral students to have a record of their work, a “best of” compilation they could keep, listen to and, perhaps, learn from.
“It’s an audio yearbook. It’s kind of like holding onto the moment and freezing the moment,” said chamber choir director Louis O’Hanlon. “Many times, people don’t realize how good they are.”
She said during an initial hearing, students are apt to focus on sections of a piece that might have been arranged differently. She said she advises them to take the recordings and wait a month or more before listening to them, to bring fresh ears to the CD at a distance from the recording experience.
Long Island production company R&S Wilhelm handled the recording this year. O’Hanlon said she sells copies to the students and some staff members to cover the costs of making the CD.
“Hope and Compassion,” comprises a mix of 11 multinational religious and secular songs that effectively evokes the emotions of its title.
O’Hanlon selects music from different world cultures to vary the material the choir masters.
“I select all the tunes. I always do world music and some classical repertoire as well,” O’Hanlon said.
Among the selections on the CD are songs from Wales, Venezuela Ecuador, India, and Ireland.
O’Hanlon said all 11 songs were recorded in one afternoon early in June in the Herricks High School Auditorium, with nearly all of them recorded in one or two takes.
But some songs presented difficulties to prepare to record, particularly “Lux Aeterna” from “Requiem” by John Rutter.
“It took us a long time to get it down,” said senior Jaskaran Sahni. “The crescendo was just magnificent on that song.”
The recording process itself was a memorable one for all involved.
“I think the recording is a great moment in itself. It’s all the songs we’ve done during the year,” said senior Julia Buckley.
The CD contains diverse tracks ranging from a Welsh lullaby “Suo Gan” (“Rest In Me”) to the complex atonal harmonies of “Duerme Negrito.” That Venezuelan lullaby was a consensus choice among choir members who said they told O’Hanlon they had to learn after hearing it performed last year by another choir.
A somber rendering of the Bahamian spiritual “All My Trials,” two pieces from requiems written a century apart and a contemporary “Kyrie” by Kentaro Sato attest to the diverse selections on the recording.
The CD won’t likely spawn a recording deal. But the quality of Herricks High’s Chamber Choir and its members is confirmed by their group and individual awards.
The most recent one was a top gold with distinction rating for the choir at the annual New York State School Music Association Major Organization Festival at Hofstra University in late May.
At one point in the afternoon’s recording session, the emotion of the moment caught up with the seniors as they sang the traditional Irish tune “May the Road Rise Up to Meet You.”
“We had a little senior moment,” said Sameer Khan. “We sang for each other.”
The recording becomes a creative collaboration between O’Hanlon and her students. Khan and fellow senior tenor Jesse Torres both sang solos and conducted songs on the CD.
“May the Road Rise Up…” was one of the last songs this year’s chamber choir sang together to the piano accompaniment of choir co-director Barbara Brand.
The moment has passed but the music is preserved on “Songs of Hope and Compassion.”
