SKU: PE.EP68578
ISBN 9790300759630. English.
Of Time and Passing (2016) is a cycle of three choral songs written specifically for the London-based ensemble, VOCES8, taking into consideration their versatilityand ability to beautifully intone a range of vocal colors with precision and grace.
The first song, I. Life, sets my translation of the poem A Vida by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac (1865-1918), a poet I discovered while studying Brazilian Portuguese at the University of Michigan. I was drawn both to the simplicity of the text and to the possibilities of teasing out dual contrasting moods. In the beginning and end, this song explores a texture that is very much alive: wave-like contours, throbbing sounds, and plenty of flowing movement. Rising eighth-note motives in particular emphasize the fleetingness of life. But in the middle of the song, the listener is given a slowed-down atmosphere to savor life's beauty.
II. To Everything a Season capitalizes on VOCES8's ability to effectively interpret popular genres a cappella. This ancient text is taken from Ecclesiastes (dated around 300 B.C.) but I set it to a modern, rhythmically-regular and percussive pop-style idiom. Since popular music in whatever era is designedto appeal to a specific ?present time?, it is by its very nature ephemeral, and therefore seemed an apt metaphor to evoke the transitory nature of seasons.
III. Into Your Hands, confines the writing into no more than four parts, often with octave unisons.This creates a more direct and word-focused setting in which the Psalmist?s urgent words are placed at the forefront. Largely homophonic, this song is at times chorale-like, at times madrigal-like,finally relinquishing it?s tension into peaceful rest, proclaiming ?You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God??
- Daniel Knaggs
SKU: BA.BA07414
ISBN 9790006559183. 27 x 19 cm inches. Text Language: Latin.
Based on the well-known bible text “Sing unto the Lord a new song†(Psalm 96:1-3), this upbeat composition with strong dynamics and flowing block chords alternating with fast-paced polyphony brings across this joyful message and enthuses singers.Originally conceived for male choir, women’s voices have now been added so that this version for mixed choir presents a further dimension of colour. This version also makes it possible to divide the choir into two groups, one for women and another for men, and to have them sing either together or as separate units. The version for mixed choir was premiered in Uppsala Cathedral (Sweden) on 26 October 2013, with the Uppsala Cathedral Singers conducted by Ulric Andersson.“My music is my own and I have never tried to be original. That has always been my motto and I have only tried to use music to express all the feelings which life has to offer. This has led people to describe my music as ‘so sad that it sounds like birds who have lost their wings‘ but also as ‘the happiest classical music that we have ever heard’.My compositions are almost all sacred. They express not only my own faith but also my appreciation and respect for the timeless texts that have been used for centuries and centuries.â€MÃ¥rten Jansson (b. 1965), elected member of the Föreningen svenska tonsättare (the Society of Swedish Composers), graduated from the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (KHM) with an MFA degree in Music Education, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Voice. For more than ten years he was the music director and conductor of “Carmenâ€, one of the most prominent womens’ vocal ensembles in Sweden. He currently teaches choral conducting and music theory as well as giving vocal tuition at the Bolandgymnasiet and Musikskolan in his home town of Uppsala.Please find a recording of Cantate Domino performed by the Riga Recording Studio Singers (Latvia) by clicking on Multimedia.
SKU: OU.9780193954120
ISBN 9780193954120. 12 x 8 inches.
for SSAATTBB and organ (ad lib.) Born 200 years ago this year and orphaned at the age of 3, Sterndale Bennett was brought up by his grandfather in Cambridge, where he sang in the choir of King's College before entering the Royal Academy of Music to study the piano at the age of 10. He was later to become Professor of Music at Cambridge and Principal of the RAM. This fine eight-part setting of verses from Psalm 71, written towards the end of his life, explores imitative and antiphonal textures.
SKU: CA.738661
ISBN 9790007229351. Text language: Latin.
The composition of Verba Ecclesiastes begun in 2002 as a result of a comission from my friend Gary Graden. For many years I've found those words from the Old Testament very fascinating - as everyone knows, I'm not alone. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! Writers, painters and filmmakers have for centuries been dealing with the subject and I found it high time to set the famous words to music. The suite, for soloists, choir and violoncello, consists of six movements, each one enlighting a different view of life and afterlife, and also, as Matthew Arnold puts it of human misery. Yet the suite is full of hope and humanity, specially recognizable in the two central parts, Dulce lumen and Omnia tempus habent. The music was completed in 2009. (Michael Waldenby).
SKU: CA.738660
ISBN 9790007166311. Text language: Latin.
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