This excellent disc by The Playground Ensemble, artists-in-residence at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, features works written between 2008 and 2010 by Andy Akiho, Leanna Kirchoff, Reggie Berg, Conrad Kehn, Brian Ebert, Todd Swingle, and the subject of this month's CCM, Anthony R. Green. I first heard Green's work this past February when my colleague and friend, Greg Williams, performed Green's "on/Zeker," which I really loved. I ordered this month's recording the same day.

Green describes himself as a "composer, performer, and social justice artist," and the liner notes of his powerful work, The Gettysburg Address noted–in 2010–that "The ever-increasing polarization of America's political climate indicates that a drastic demonstration, akin to a civil war, is imminent." Alas, truer words have rarely been uttered, as the ten years since that pronouncement was made have borne out the prediction in increasingly alarming fashion.

Listen here to the foreboding shrieks and cries of the ensemble as Lincoln's famous words are intoned and recontextualized in such a way that they seem to transcend time itself. The words conjure not just the 87 years prior to their original utterance, but serve as commentary on the Antebellum Period, the war, and the nearly 160 years since. They are a plea, a prayer, a reflection, and a warning all at once.