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: BR.EB-9411

SKU: GI.G-1108

This project was birthed in the midst of a pandemic. At such times, just the opportunity to create art is a huge gift. This cadre of singers came together with the encumbrance of travel, limited rehearsal time, having to sing in masks—and dug deep to create this body of work. I will forever be an admirer of their collective strength. The purpose of this recording is simple. It is our sincere hope that peace can be found despite all the chaos around us—COVID-19, social maladies, floods, fires, and the more. We the members of the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers bring you SOLACE. CONTENTS: O Praise the Lord, Adolphus Hailstork • They led My Lord Away, arr. Brandon Waddles • Psalmi, Nathan Carter • Didn't It Rain, arr. Donald Dillard • A Prayer, Ken Burton • You must Have that True Religion, arr. Roland Carter • Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, arr. Norman Luboff • He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, arr. Cedric Dent • Safe in His Arms, Jason Max Ferdinand and Meka Ferdinand, strings arr. Dennis Atkinson, Jr. • The Holy City, Michael Maybrick, arr. John Stoddart • God Be in My Head, Alexander L'estrange.