SKU: PR.312419280

ISBN 9781491137925. UPC: 680160692613.

Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: GI.G-8600

UPC: 785147860006. English. Text by Adam M. L. Tice.

Here is a catchy, lively, joyous tune! Verses 3 and 4 take an excursion into the relative minor with a slightly altered melody line. The piece then returns to the original major key. Very flexible in terms of when to use a soloist, the choir, or the assembly—in any combination. Appropriate for the washing of feet on Holy Thursday and when themes of mercy, justice, call, and social concern are highlighted. The Cantor or Solo parts are optional.

SKU: ST.CN7P

ISBN 9790220224645.

A tour de force of choral energy and expertise in rhythmic precision, this is aerial music, fleet and vibrant as voices proclaim Martin Luther's vision of universal peace above a torrent of cascading organ scales. The brightness of the Lydian mode matches this joyful proclamation, intoned chant-like in bold, clear intervals recalling the sounds both of medieval music and its refraction through the ears of modern masters like Stravinsky and Tavener. Cunningly constructed too, on a four-bar ostinato, the music reverses its opening scale figure for a quieter section before building again to an extrovert ending that repeats the chant against new organ figures in a clinching 'alleluia'.

SKU: PL.9305

Organ and handbells majestically introduce this text by Christopher Smart. Composed in traditional hymn-anthem style, there is considerable writing for unison voices as well as SATB, with optional solo voice, followed by the final verse which returns to unison with a jubilant descant. The voice parts are doubled in the organ accompaniment. The handbell part often takes the form of a bell peal, colorfully highlighting the atmosphere of praise.