The Stravinsky Years
Chronology Part 1:
Preparation
1957
The performance of Swedish composer Ingvar Natanael Lidholm’s “Laudi” marked the first appearance of the Gregg Smith Singers at the Monday Evening Concert series in Los Angeles. “Laudi” is a polyphonic choral piece, composed in 1947. Gregg Smith: “We were doing two to three performances in different venues that year, one of which was at the Monday Evening Concerts. This concert was sponsored by the then National Alliance of American Composers, now known as the American Composers Alliance.
That same year, we were contacted by Russ Garcia on behalf of Verve Records. A new stereophonic sound process was being explored by the record industry. Gregg Smith and the Singers had begun to perform spatially, which Gregg termed “Music in Multidimensional Sound.”
Gregg was clued into this idea by studying the work of Charles Ives. The audience really enjoys to this day performances that are “out of the box” of the concert stage. Musical structures are often enhanced by separation of the voices. GSS was asked to make a recording that would promote interest in the process.
