Cheryl Anne Roach: Buy

Having spent almost my entire musical career in the world of classical music, the concert from which this CD was made feels like coming home. I began playing the piano at age 5. Within a few years, I was spending hours at the piano playing whatever music I could get my hands on. A lot of that was my mother’s music stacked by the piano in the living room of my parents’ home. Many of the songs I sing on this recording are from my mother’s original sheet music. I was born after these songs were written, but I have loved, played, and sung them all my life.

In between those childhood days and now were Bachelor and Master Degrees in Piano, a Doctorate in Voice, teaching at several colleges and universities, and many concerts and performances. However, nothing I have ever done has made me any happier than preparing this music to share with you.

This selection of songs is the culmination of a project that has been on my heart for a number of years. Some of the songs are new loves, and some are old favorites. However, they are all songs of faith. Composers and poets of all ages have communicated their spiritual yearnings through their art. My prayer is that you will hear God speak to you through these songs, no matter what the language. The recording is a compilation of sacred songs in different styles and different languages. It begins with a group of American Gospel songs, by Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and contemporary composers, Mark Hayes and Richard Walters. Representing the German language are five songs from the “Spanishes Liederbuch” of Hugo Wolf. This is followed by four songs from the French tradition, the two Hebrew melodies of Maurice Ravel, and songs by Francis Poulenc and Gabriel Fauré. The final group of songs are a solo cantata by John Carter based on African American spirituals.