SKU: BA.BA08525

ISBN 9790006566037. 27 x 19 cm inches. Text Language: English. Text: Silvestri, Charles Anthony.

â??Tonight I Dance Aloneâ? for double choir a cappella consists of three poignant episodes from the life of an old man. We encounter him before his wedding, before celebrating his wedding anniversary and now as an elderly widower who says to his grandson:

â??Soon we will dance in the God-light,
My love and I.
Soon will the moon be ours again,
And the endless shining stars
In the halls of heaven.
Soon, my love, very soon;
But tonight, one last time,
Tonight I dance alone.�

The libretto and the descriptive music are deeply moving and constitute an ideal partnership. This is MÃ¥rten Jansson's first collaboration with the well-known librettist Charles Anthony Silvestri. The piece provides a well-worth challenge for ambitious choirs.

It was world-premiered by the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus under the baton of Philip Barnes on 1 October 2017 in Saint Louis, MO (USA)

The performance can be viewed on YouTube

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: WD.080689647178

UPC: 080689647178.

Songs have forever been at the heart of God’s Church. They help build our faith, tell of the rich, full, grace of our Savior, and speak of our devotion and allegiance to Him; songs express our thoughts and feelings and needs in a way that mere words never can. Songs allow us to lift our voice to declare that He alone is worthy of our praise, He alone is the one true God and King, and He alone has provided a way to salvation for a lost and dying world. The songs included in this new Word Music & Church Resources Choral Collection are Songs the Church Loves to Sing! Across decades, styles and sounds have changed, but the impact songs have on God’s people is undeniable and unmistakable. Through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, a lexicon of Christian songs took their place beside the time-honored hymns of the church, songs that became the voice of new generations of believers, songs that the church still loves to sing. This Choral Collection, arranged and orchestrated by Marty Parks, is a tribute to those songs. We hope and believe this church music resource will find its place in your church music library and will be used as a tool of outreach and ministry to proclaim your love and adoration for the Lord, giving voice to people everywhere; a voice with which to keep singing these Songs the Church Loves to Sing!