To Shiver the Sky is the third studio album by the American composer Christopher Tin. Released in 2020, it features texts about the history of flight ranging from Leonardo da Vinci's writings on flight to John F. Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech.[1][2][3]

To Shiver The Sky
Studio album by
Released21 August 2020 (2020-08-21)
RecordedAbbey Road[1]
GenreWorld
Length52:43
LabelUniversal Music Classics
Christopher Tin chronology
The Drop That Contained the Sea
(2014)
To Shiver The Sky
(2020)
The Lost Birds
(2022)

Creation of the album was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. The campaign met its goal in the first 36 hours, and went on to raise $221,415 (over 4 times the initial goal), making it the highest funded classical music Kickstarter project ever.[1][2]

The song "Sogno di Volare" was composed as a main theme for the 2016 video game Civilization VI.[4]

Track listing

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No.TitleLyrics notes[5]Length
1."Sogno di Volare ("The Dream of Flight")" (feat. Royal Opera Chorus)From Leonardo da Vinci's writings on flight (Adapted by Chiara Cortez). Sung in Italian3:51
2."The Heavenly Kingdom" (feat. ModernMedieval, The Assembly)From Hildegard von Bingen: "Scivias". Sung in Latin2:05
3."Daedalus and Icarus" (feat. Pene Pati, Royal Opera Chorus, The Assembly)From Ovid's "Metamorphoses". Sung in Latin5:14
4."The Fall" (feat. Pene Pati, ModernMedieval, Royal Opera Chorus)From Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy". Sung in Italian4:53
5."Astronomy" (feat. The Assembly, Anna Lapwood)from Nicolaus Copernicus' "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (Polish translation and poeticization by Janusz Mrzigod). Sung in Polish7:06
6."To the Stars" (feat. Pembroke College Girls' Choir, The Assembly)From Jules Verne's "De la Terre à la Lune" (Adaptation by Gabriel Majou). Sung in French4:18
7."Oh, the Humanity" (feat. Pene Pati, Royal Opera Chorus)From speeches by Ferdinand von Zeppelin (Adaptation by Evita Wagner). Sung in German4:42
8."Courage" (feat. Danielle de Niese)A setting of Amelia Earhart's poem 'Courage'. Sung in English4:42
9."Become Death" (feat. ModernMedieval, Royal Opera Chorus)From the Bhagavad Gita, as quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Sung in Sanskrit2:57
10."The Power of the Spirit" (feat. Royal Opera Chorus)From quotes by Yuri Gagarin. Sung in Russian2:36
11."We Choose to Go to the Moon" (feat. Danielle de Niese, Pene Pati, ModernMedieval, Pembroke College Girls' Choir, Royal Opera Chorus, The Assembly)From John F. Kennedy's Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort. Sung in English10:19

Charts

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To Shiver the Sky first spent two weeks on Billboard's Top Classical Crossover Albums, peaking at rank 1 the week of 5 September 2020. That same week it placed 6 on Top Classical Albums[6] and 80 for Current Album Sales.[7] It re-entered the Top Classical Crossover Albums chart for a third week the week of October 3, 2020.[8]

Chart Peak position
US Top Classical Crossover Albums (Billboard)[8] 1
US Top Classical Albums (Billboard)[6] 6
US Current Album Sales (Billboard)[7] 80

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Composer Christopher Tin's Brand New Album, 'To Shiver the Sky' is Out Now!". Abbey Road Studios. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Remington, Kate (17 September 2020). "Christopher Tin Reaches The Stars With 'To Shiver The Sky'". WSHU Public Radio. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  3. ^ Amacher, Julie (28 October 2020). "Christopher Tin's 'To Shiver the Sky' encourages listeners to take flight". YourClassical. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  4. ^ Greening, Chris (22 July 2016). "Civilization VI to feature an orchestral soundtrack led by Knorr and Tin". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  5. ^ "VGMdb notes on album lyrics from official compact disk booklet". vgmdb.net.
  6. ^ a b "Classical Albums Chart: The week of September 5, 2020". Billboard. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Top Current Album Sales Chart: The week of September 5, 2020". Billboard. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b

Further reading

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