No Choice but Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community seeks to highlight diverse LGBTQIA+ voices and perspectives, through revelatory performances of important songs by some of today’s leading composers. Ferring commissioned the title track, No Choice but Love, from composer Ben Moore in 2021. He sent Moore a poem by a fellow tenor and close friend, Jamaican-American Terrence Chin-Loy. Moore describes, “Like every other gay person I’ve ever met, I was given negative messages when I was young. It’s a process to fully accept yourself and see that what we are is natural. Nor is it a choice – it’s based in love.’” Moore worked to give the song “a cosmic feel” and says, “the speaker reflects on the people who came before and made our current freedoms possible. ‘We have no choice but love’ – Terrence celebrates that this hugely positive truth is how the world is meant to be.’” The opening text of the commission inspired the album artwork, “In the beginning, there was love. And by its touch the universe unfolded into countless stars.”
The album also includes the world premiere recording of Ben Moore’s Love Remained in a new version for tenor; Manuel de Falla’s Preludios and Oración de las madres que tienen a sus hijos en brazos; Jake Heggie’s Friendly Persuasions; Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit; Ethel Smyth’s On the Road; Jennifer Higdon’s Lilacs; the world premiere recordings of Willie Alexander III’s Sure On This Shining Night and Mari Esabel Valverde’s To digte af Tove Ditlevsen; Benjamin Britten’s Canticle I; and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Prayer and Joy. Ferring performs a recital of these works at his alma mater, Drake University, as part of their acclaimed Jordan Concert Series on October 14, 2022.
Ferring expresses, “As members of that community, Madeline and I wanted to pay homage to the beautiful, difficult history of the LGBT+ community within the classical music world by featuring the many talented living and passed LGBT+ composers…We believe that music is a means of expression, an alternative lens through which to interpret reality, and a healing force. We know that we must use our voices to be advocates for those whose voices are ignored or can’t be heard. We as artists must utilize our gifts to be catalysts for change, empowering our networks, and inspiring them to do what they never thought possible.”
