This is the first recording devoted to James Newton’s (b. 1953) sacred works. Among his influences, Newton cites Bach and Stravinsky’s masses and cantatas, as well as the operas of Messiaen, Puccini and Verdi as touchstones. While Newton does not appropriate materials from European composers, he does occasionally utilize their methods, his use of Bach-derived counterpoint in the “Kyrie” being a salient example in his Mass (2006–7).

Between the Cherubim (2007) for solo piano and the song In a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye (2004, rev. 2009) complement Newton’s Mass both in terms of musical statements and messages of faith. Newton’s writing for piano in the Mass is flecked with flourishes that exude the spontaneity of improvisation, a quality present throughout Between the Cherubim.

Inspired by Bach, who incorporated English, French and Italian dances into his sacred music, and Thomas A Dorsey, who shaped gospel music out of the blues, In a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye is a stand-alone example of Newton’s transformations of secular materials through the use of sacred texts, in this case a passage from 1st Corinthians. Newton’s writing for voice in the initial passages of the song resembles that of his Mass, his emphasis on diction and dynamics echoing the African-American tradition of concert singing, a historically busy intersection between sacred and secular forms of music.