SKU: PR.312419020

ISBN 9781491131862. UPC: 680160680474. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to 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. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
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: MN.56-0042

UPC: 688670220470. English.

Commissioned by The Voices Foundation in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II, this most somber and dramatic piece uses texts from David Geraint Jones and William Shakespeare to chronicle the recollections and reflections of a soldier, which are not for the faint of heart. Thinking back on a more carefree past, the “speaker” assures his love that the future will again hold quiet and wonder. However, the price to be paid in between the past and the future is in blood and death. The soldier predicts poppies swaying over him as he lies freed of pain, yes, but also of passion. And he concludes, “Your peace is bought with mine, if but the echo of your laughter reaches me in hell.”.

SKU: SU.80101419

Missa in incerto tempore (The Davison Mass) (2018) was commissioned by the Harvard Glee Club. It was premiered by the Harvard Glee Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Andrew Clark, Director of Choral Activities) and the All Saints' Choir of Men and Boys (Ashmont Boy Choir), Dorchester, Massachusetts; (Andrew Sheranian, Organist and Master of Choristers). The Latin title, meaning Mass in uncertain times, refers to the centuries of comfort, inspiration, and spiritual enrichment that the mass (and the musical settings for its celebration) has provided to many individuals through difficulty and uncertainty. I cannot deny that the times in which this piece was composed are the most nationally and internationally uncertain of my own life to date. That fact had a definite impact on the tone and emotional character of the piece. However, there is a universality as well, since one could readily feel that all times have a sense of uncertainty, especially since we never know exactly what the future holds. The first three movements have somewhat enigmatic endings. The end of the Agnus Dei tries to temper (but not erase) that uncertainty with a degree of optimism and fervor in a passionate plea of Dona nobis pacem. Instrumentation: SATB Chorus, Men's Chorus, and Two Organs (Opt. One Organ) Duration: 20' Composed: 2018 Published by: Zimbel Press.

SKU: HL.215263

8.25x11.5 inches.

I finished Psalm 23 Dominus regit me (The Lord Is My Shepherd), which inspired me musically, in 2013. This prayer of praise, being a radical act of trust in God, as Pope Benedict XVI once said, complements Credo in unum Deum. I was particularly moved by the personal tone of the Psalm author and by the landscape of life symbols that he painted. The psalmist, describing ancient nomads, compares God to a shepherd taking care of his flock. It is a hopeful metaphor of a journey in the future with kind and loving God as a guide - 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.' By interpreting the text with music, I wanted to avoid emotional directness, and to present the 'trust' in a contemplative way, as if it were a kind of a prayer - meditation. -Marcel Chyrzynski, translated by Monika Rokicka.

SKU: CA.924400

ISBN 9790007244392. Key: B flat major. Language: German. Text: Cornelius, Peter.

Sei mein! was written and composed by Peter Cornelius in 1865 for his future wife Bertha Jung. The composer set the poem in short rhyming lines using the scheme aaabcccb, recounting with loving humor what his beloved means to him. These art songs were originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted them to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD Kennst du das Land ... (Carus 83.495).