PRESS CLIPS

Performer

Splendid…a succession of listening pleasures…multiplicity of talents

-The New York Times

Harold Stover has come up with a fascinating CD [An American Album]. When you see the cover of this CD, graced by a postcard scene of Portland's Congress Street from yesteryear, you suspect that the contents will include some nostalgia and, indeed, they do. Highly recommended.

-The Tracker (Organ Historical Society)

[An American Album is] a very eclectic and unusual program of music by American composers…Harold Stover’s playing is excellent throughout.

–The Diapason

Textural transparency and an unerring approach to color have long been hallmarks of Stover’s style.

–Portland Press Herald

If you had attended [Stover’s] recital you would have come to the conclusion that instrument, organist, and what was played intersected extraordinarily.

–The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Composer

Harold Stover’s music is intentionally eclectic as he draws from all angles and aspects of musical styles and periods. The vision and skill with which these diverse ingredients are mixed together create an impression of delightful juxtaposition and creative innovation. This music, brimming with vitality, is to be delighted in and chuckled at…savored and internalized. Harold Stover’s compositions paint vivid pictures for listeners to conjure up their own visions of musical storytelling.

-The Diapason

Harold Stover's 2003 suite, Mountain Music, is distinctly American. Its quiet nocturne, comedic scherzo and final variations are based on Shaker melodies dating back as far as 1808. The central Quick Dance—a hoedown, no less—[is] especially attractive, as [is] the solemnly striding ground-bass underpinning the finale.

–The Washington Post

[Siciliana and Arioso] is quite original…well-crafted and carefully thought out.

–The American Organist

[Carillon is] a completely original take on nine hymn tunes.

–The American Organist

Conductor of Renaissance Voices

They sing as one person, their intonation is as constant as their rhythm is good…it is all marvelously musical. Harold Stover obviously knows and loves the music he is conducting.

–Biddeford Journal Tribune

Throughout the program, the group’s 21 singers, perfectly tuned and performing without accompaniment, produced [a] consistently seamless, velvety tone and rich blend.

–Portland Press Herald