SKU: GI.G-7764
UPC: 785147776406. English. Text Source: “Kit Smart’s Carol†by Christopher Smart, 1722–1771, “Wedderburn’s Carol†by Martin Luther, tr. John or Robert Wedderburn, 16th c. Text by Christopher Smart.
If you have a college choir, or an above-average high school or church choir, and if you've grown a bit weary of the same or similar Christmas repertoire year after year, look at these settings of two classic carols: a 16th-century translation of part of Luther's Vom Himmel hoch and an 18th-century work by an under-appreciated poet. Â .
SKU: HL.14020694
SKU: HL.14020692
SKU: HL.14020693
SKU: HL.277282
UPC: 840126915006. 6.75x10.5 inches.
Program note:Looking Up is a piece for large chorus and orchestra, and is in three sections, played without pause. In the 16th century, a variety of psalters in meter were printed in England, with the idea of making psalm-singing something that could happen easily at home, with the rhyming meter being an aid to memorization. These translations are wonderful exercises in brevity and sometimes clumsy rhymemaking, and were usually prefaced by a lengthy explanation as to their merits; the title of one of the first such volumes in English is: The Psalter of Dauid newely translated into Englysh metre in such sort that it maye the more decently, and wyth more delyte of the mynde, be reade and songe of al men. I thought it would be appropriate to set one of these introductions, and the first section of Looking Up sets the preface to Thomas Ravenscroft's psalter (1621), in which he writes: “The singing of Psalmes (assay the Doctors) comforteth the sorrowfull, pacifieth the angry, strengtheneth the weake, humbleth the proud, gladdeth the humble, stirres up the slow, reconcileth enemies, lifteth up the heart to heavenly things, and uniteth the Creature to his Creator.”It begins meditatively, but eventually grows agitated and fervent, with a vision of the “quire of Angels and Saints” “redoubling anddescanting” - an ecstatic and terrifying vision of the skies opening up. Ravenscroft then encourages the use of instrumental musicfor worship, at which point, a long, acrobatic orchestral interlude with jagged edges antagonizes the choir, who sing a kind of private, anxious meditation on two pitches.One of the most delicious biblical texts is an Apocryphal prayer known as the Benedicite or the Prayer of the Three Children (the same who were rescued by an angel after King Nebuchadnezzar tried to have them burnt in an oven for not bowing to his image). The text is repetitive, obsessive, and a gift to composers - each line is an invocation of an element of the natural world, followed by the phrase, “blesse ye the Lord, praise him & magnify him for ever.” In Looking Up, the setting begins with three solo voices, and then grows to include the whole choir, itemizing the whole of creation. The idea that these boys are spared from the furnace and then five minutes later are saying, “O ye the fire and warming heate, blesse ye the Lord...” has always felt very loaded to me, and the orchestra plays with this conflict between joyful praise and a more terrible (in the 16th-century sense) awefor the divine.The text for the third, and shortest, section is taken from Christopher Smart's (1722-1771) A Song to David, purportedly written during his confinement in a mental asylum. This ode to King David points out how David, as the author of some of the Psalms, observes the whole world from the “clustering spheres” to the “nosegay in the vale.&rdquo.
SKU: FG.55011-773-0
ISBN 9790550117730.
Alex Freeman's A Wilderness of Sea (SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB) draws from four of Shakespeare’s most famous works. It emphasizes a common thread among those works that addresses two of the most universal aspects of human existence: water and impermanence. The recording of the work by Helsinki Chamber Choir conducted by Nils Schweckendick is published by the label BIS - follow the link to listen to it. Duration: c. 15' Alex Freeman (b. 1972) grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Around the age of 13 he became interested in composing. In 1998 he moved to New York to begin his Doctoral studies at the Juilliard School, studying with Christopher Rouse. The focus of his doctoral document led him to Finland. The recipient of a Fulbright Full Fellowship, he moved to Helsinki in 2001 to research Sibelius's sketches and study composition with Eero Hämeenniemi at the Sibelius Academy. Dr. Freeman is currently composing full-time and lives with his wife and children in Finland.
SKU: FG.55011-568-2
ISBN 9790550115682.
The texts of Alex Freeman's Calle sin nombre for mixed choir (2019) are drawn from quotations of families seeking asylum who are victims of the policies of family separation aggressively and abruptly enacted by the administration of President Donald John Trump. These desperate words tread with bare feet across shards of fragmented lines from Emma Lazarus's The New Colossus (the iconic poem enshrined at the base of The Statue of Liberty). A rehearsal reduction for piano is included in the publication. Alex Freeman (b. 1972) grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Around the age of 13 he became interested in composing. In 1998 he moved to New York to begin his Doctoral studies at the Juilliard School, studying with Christopher Rouse. The focus of his doctoral document led him to Finland. The recipient of a Fulbright Full Fellowship, he moved to Helsinki in 2001 to research Sibelius's sketches and study composition with Eero Hameenniemi at the Sibelius Academy. Dr. Freeman is currently composing full-time and lives with his wife and children in Finland.
SKU: CA.5292000
ISBN 9790007296018. German. Text: Bone, Heinrich.
Reger's unaccompanied setting Maria, Himmelsfreud (WoO VI/12) was probably composed at the end of 1899 to a commission from the Regensburg Cathedral music director Franz Xaver Engelhart for the collection Marienlob, which he edited. All four verses of the well-known text by Heinrich Bone were set by Reger here, in contrast to his setting of the same name from the Marienlieder op. 61d.
SKU: LM.JJ16397
ISBN 9790230816397.
SKU: GI.G-8416
UPC: 785147841609. English. Text Source: Christopher Smart, 1722-1771, alt. Text by Christopher Smart.
Taken from Christopher Smart’s intriguing poem “The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,†this four-part a cappella anthem for Christmas Eve and Christmastide sits comfortably in the tessitura for each voice part throughout plus a section where the tenors are at the top of their range. The piece also offers an alternative SSAA arrangement of this latter section. Optional SSAA voices.
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