SKU: BT.MUSM570367917

Thomas Simaku's  La Leggiadra Luna  arranged for choir a capella. The music begins with a song-like expression introduced at a slow pace, as if emerging from the remoteness of time itself. It is clearly based on the musical utterance of the 'white modality', but these modal segments are constantly surrounded by chromatic inflections throughout the work. Each section of the choir pursues its own path, but during a compositional process of ‘zooming in and out’, as it were, their individual qualities are highlighted. It is as if the initial sound object - which to begin with was far away- is brought nearer to us, in time and space. A variety of shortsegments, predominantly modal, but stemming from different chromatic ‘locations’, are often superimposed. The task of filtering out this 'amourphous' texture and giving its constituent elements - be they melodic or harmonic, or a combination of both - a renewed identity, becomes an essential compositional aim, through which the process of crystallization occurs. The main strategy of the piece is thus exploring the interrelationship between these two sound-worlds (modal and chromatic) and their temporal qualities (ancient and modern), musical or otherwise.

SKU: HL.350799

ISBN 9781705106778. UPC: 840126935950.

The poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by acclaimed African American poet James Weldon Johnson in 1900 and set to music byhis brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1905. The Edward B. Marks Music Company first published the song in 1921, which remains strongly associated with social justice and patriotism, particularly in African American communities. While at one time it could be found pasted to the back of some hymnals used in African American Churches, today the song is formally printed under headings such as national song or social justice in many modern hymnals. Other versions include a concert setting published in 1978 for SATB chorus and piano by Roland Carter, a setting by Hale Smith for SATB chorus and orchestra also dating from the 70s, and a modern R&B recorded version released in 1990 featuring Dione Warwick, Stevie Wonder and Take 6.

SKU: HL.50575304