David Lang's "poor hymnal" at Alice Tully Hall

David Lang's poor hymnal at Alice Tully Hall
The Crossing, Donald Nally conductor
Dec. 21. 7:30PM. Pay What You Choose

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang has been collecting old hymnals for years. What he likes about them, he says, is that each one represents a community, singing about what matters to them. So for his own choral work, called Poor Hymnal, Lang pieced together texts from the Bible, Tolstoy, Barack Obama, and other sources that talk about what’s ultimately at the heart of any community, namely taking care of each other. He wrote the piece for the Grammy-winning choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally. They give the Lang piece its New York premiere on Dec. 21 at Alice Tully Hall.