SKU: PR.342402070

ISBN 9781491111253. UPC: 680160643226. Octavo inches. Text: Archibald R. Ammons. Archibald Ammons. Text by A.R. Ammons.

To benefit Chorus America, Stucky allowed himself to be auctioned off as a prize - the high bidder would receive a new work from the composer. After a few years and not really hearing anything, Stucky suddenly found himself up against a deadline. He reached back to a favorite poem by A.R. Ammons, Eyesight, which, he says, Won't let...his reader rest till the very last word...one of those sudden insights that leave us breathless..
This piece has an odd history. A few years ago, I agreed to be one of the“prizes” in an auction to benefit Chorus America: the highest bidder wouldget a new piece from me, while their money went to the organization. Thewinning bid came from a collection of several professional choruses anddirectors. But I was always a little vague about the details, and, hearingnothing more about it for a few years, forgot the whole thing.One day I received a message from Thomas Edward Morgan, directorof the Ars Nova Chamber Singers in Boulder: they had scheduled thepremiere of my new piece for a few weeks later, and could they have themusic, please? I needed a text, quickly, and (as usual) I was in a Los Angeleshotel room, not at home with my books. So I turned to the internet andsoon tracked down my favorite poet, A.R. Ammons (1926-2001).Once I stumbled on “Eyesight,” I remembered having loved the poemyears before. Archie must have loved it, too, because he included it bothin his Collected Poems 1951-1971 and in the later Selected Poems. It haseverything you want in an Archie Ammons poem: what Edward Hirschcalled his “offbeat, sideways, unpredictable radiance,” his “homespunglory.” It has one of his trademark conversations with a mountain (perhapsfrom his native North Carolina), it has the fluid motion from one line tothe next (enjambment, if you want to get technical) that won’t let him orhis reader rest till the very last word of the very last line, and it has in thatlast line one of those sudden insights that leave us breathless: “some thingsthat go are gone.”I miss Archie, but he’s not gone. I’m grateful for the wonderful poems heleft us, and I’m grateful that he was always generous and kind when I hadthe chutzpah to add my music to his.

SKU: GI.G-9958

UPC: 785147995807. English. Text Source: From I Loved You First, Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894, alt. Text by Christina Rossetti.

 The English Romantic poet, Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), is chiefly known for her mystic religious lyrics. Her limited number of love poems are mostly of an unhappy nature, rather like objective expressions of happiness denied. A certain steely stoicism within her caused her to turn away from love twice in her lifetime with two separate men. There is no evidence of resolute refusal of love in this poem, however. Here she profusely proclaims her deep love for another. Wayland Rogers has set the last five lines of I Loved You First to music. The setting is an excerpt from his song cycle, I-Thou , which was commissioned and premiered by Fourth Coast Ensemble in Chicago in 2018.  About the Series: Doreen Rao, 2019 Robert Shaw Award recipient, launches her culturally inclusive choral series, Global Encounters for Young Voices, featuring accessible treble- and mixed-voice works for developing choirs.

SKU: FG.55011-455-5

ISBN 9790550114555.

This cycle of carols, to the poetry of Christina Rossetti, was assembled piecemeal over a number of years, gradually acquiring a larger dramatic and harmonic arch shape as new settings were added. I was particularly attracted to Rossetti's conflation of the dark, fallow winter landscape with that of the soul waiting for salvation. The cycle traces the long nights of watchfulness before Christmas, with the great event constantly deferred, only glimpsed periodically in different visions before the music turns inward again to contemplation. The opening carol embodies this spirit, with passages of diffuse, roving harmony interspersed with meditative, lyrical pedals, calling out the night watch and dreaming of a far-off summer of the spirit. Earth Grown Old is a kind of double carol, setting two complete poems, their lines at first presented separately as a still, expectant chorale and a jubilant dance, then progressively interwoven toward a fervent climax before once again receding into quiet. In the bleak mid-winter, which sets a highly compressed version of Rossetti's original poem, presents an enfeebled landscape frozen in time, in dire need of deliverance. A gentle melody weaves its way through static drones, broken by an angels' chorus announcing the joy to come. Love Came Down at Christmas ends the waiting, with its gently falling, overlapping lines building to a final revelation, the mystery of Christmas at last made real.

SKU: ST.B934

ISBN 9780852499344.

This, the ninth of a series of books begun in 1983, contains Brian Wren's 36 most recent hymns (2009 to 2012). It is nicely presented and laid out in a user-friendly way. The hymns are divided into five thematic sections: Jesus from Cradle to Cross; Easter Hymns; Church and Mission; Praise; and Metrical Psalms. This last section, rooted in (though not bound by) the Old Testament, is often influenced by Isaac Watts and will be of more use to some than others; it concludes with a tremendous rendering of Psalm 8; a paean of praise which all will love, set to a stirring tune.

Each section is prefaced with a single page introduction listing the contents and, in some instances, giving an interesting insight into Brian Wren's theology and thinking which provides food for contemplation. Each hymn is printed in words format with all the necessary information for inclusion in an order of worship. Every hymn is also printed with full score music for accompaniment interlined with the words. The book is slightly larger than A5, and there are various useful indexes.

The tunes range from ancient to modern, some very familiar, including Candler (better known as Ye Banks and Braes). A number are of a metre where alternative tunes are available. Those tunes which are new vary in ease of use; some will be readily picked up, others would prove challenging for occasional use in a small congregation but could be used as music group items.

These are hymns which need to be read as a whole and require thought. The words are chosen with care and notable as much for those not used as those included e.g.: 'Christ, untameably alive,/ breathe your life upon us - / Compass, Governor and Guide, / with us and beyond us,/ Sky and Sunlight, / spreading Vine./ Spring of Living Water,/ Truth and Wisdom, Way and Word,/ here, and then hereafter.' These hymns will be useful in worship as either sung or read pieces, and will also prove an invaluable resource for private devotion.

Robert Canham, Reform