After announcing an ambitious 2024–2025 season in the spring, the Dallas Chamber Symphony reached a major milestone: the release of its debut album.

“A recording is a milestone for any arts group and it certainly is for our orchestra. We have wanted to record an album for some time and the pandemic has given us a good reason to do so,” said Richard McKay, the orchestra’s musical and artistic director.

On the hunt for home contains two dance suites: Joseph Thalkens On the hunt for home and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring SuiteWith a grant from the Donna Wilhelm Family Fund, Bruce Wood Dance and the Dallas Chamber Symphony presented the world premiere of On the hunt for home in 2017. The Syrian refugee crisis that dominated the news at the time inspired Thalken and Albert Drake, the project’s choreographer.

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McKay credits working with companies like Bruce Wood Dance in the orchestra’s early years with developing a solid artistic foundation, and he wanted this first album to reflect the orchestra’s history.

“It was a major project for us at the time and we felt it was an important part of our history,” McKay said.

This modern piece is paired with Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suitea piece that Martha Graham commissioned for her dance company and which premiered in 1944. The story of the ballet revolves around a young couple who establish a home in the hills of Pennsylvania in the early 19th century. The music is reminiscent of the Shaker community and makes the Shaker melody “Simple Gifts” known to a wider audience. The work is considered to be quintessentially American.

“They both deal with themes of belonging, new beginnings and starting over, and that’s why we thought the pair made a really beautiful album,” said McKay.

What do these pieces say about the experiences of migrants?

“Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to point out how both ballets end, with the protagonists finally finding a new home and finding a way to overcome the difficulties and, as Aaron Copland put it, finding a way to move on to a new home with confidence,” McKay said.

The artwork highlights the themes of the music and the production history of the ballet.

“The angularity is in keeping with the angularity of Martha Graham’s sets and minimalist design,” McKay said. “There’s a cloud on the horizon, which is symbolic of drama or something ominous on the horizon, but there’s also this door that opens to a new life, in this case a new city. That’s our concept for the album and also for each of these works.”

Dallas Chamber Symphony

The orchestra recorded the album at Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District during a time of great uncertainty.

“We met in April 2021, of course everyone was wearing masks at the time. It was a project that was on our minds at the time when we weren’t doing any public shows yet,” McKay said.

The pandemic presented special challenges for the recording process. Musicians – 11 players for On the hunt for home and 13 players for Appalachian Spring Suite – had to sit further apart than usual. Since McKay and the musicians were masked, they could not see each other’s facial expressions and had to rely on reading each other’s body language.

“Musicians weren’t performing nearly as regularly back then, if at all. We required them to go to their jobs and be ready to go when it was time to record. That’s difficult when you’re not performing regularly. It’s difficult to come out of the pandemic, sit down for a rehearsal and be ready to go in the recording studio within a couple of days, especially with such demanding repertoire. Both pieces are very difficult to play, and they’re composed in such a way that because of their very open or very close harmonies, they’re very difficult to tune, very difficult to play together, and very difficult to get a good sound. This is very demanding repertoire, recorded in a very demanding environment,” McKay said.

After the rehearsal, the orchestra invited a small audience to watch the first recording. The reaction was a small but enthusiastic round of applause.

“Despite all of our challenges, our musicians have done a really great job,” said McKay.

The production of this album took three years.

“When I look at this album, it’s very detailed. There were a lot of people working on it, a lot of people making sure every aspect was excellent. And that takes time,” said McKay.

Mitch Lazorko

Decades after its premiere Appalachian Spring Suite is popular for its music and choreography. Orchestras often include the music in their repertoire and Martha Graham’s choreography is regularly repeated.

“This is a great example of how music and dance can work together and yet have their own separate lives as art forms,” McKay said.

McKay hopes the story rhymes for On the hunt for home.

“An important first step is to get the music out there so that other dance companies can hear it and consider using it. It is also an important step to get the piece performed by other music groups over time. I think this is just the beginning of the journey for the dance and music that will be on On the hunt for home”, said McKay.

Learn more: Dallas Chamber Symphony

Read a review of Chasing Home from our partners at the Dallas Morning News.