Double Double Toil And Trouble

There’s more to Shakespeare’s songs than a hey-nonny-nonny, and the depth of the bard’s texts has inspired composers from well beyond the cultural borders of the English language. Nearly half of the Phoenix Bach Choir’s “Shakespeare in Song” disc offers intriguing music by composers who are neither English nor American. Chief among these is Switzerland’s Frank Martin, whose Songs of Ariel constitute a modern choral classic. These are haunting, harmonically unsettled settings, and for an example of the skill and beauty the Phoenix Bach Choir brings to this program, just listen to the wonderful intonation on the last chord of “Before You Can Say ‘Come’ and ‘Go’.”