SKU: HL.277282

UPC: 840126915006. 6.75x10.5 inches.

Program note:

Looking Up is a piece for large chorus and orchestra, and is in three sections, played without pause. In the 16th century, a variety of psalters in meter were printed in England, with the idea of making psalm-singing something that could happen easily at home, with the rhyming meter being an aid to memorization. These translations are wonderful exercises in brevity and sometimes clumsy rhymemaking, and were usually prefaced by a lengthy explanation as to their merits; the title of one of the first such volumes in English is: The Psalter of Dauid newely translated into Englysh metre in such sort that it maye the more decently, and wyth more delyte of the mynde, be reade and songe of al men. I thought it would be appropriate to set one of these introductions, and the first section of Looking Up sets the preface to Thomas Ravenscroft's psalter (1621), in which he writes: “The singing of Psalmes (assay the Doctors) comforteth the sorrowfull, pacifieth the angry, strengtheneth the weake, humbleth the proud, gladdeth the humble, stirres up the slow, reconcileth enemies, lifteth up the heart to heavenly things, and uniteth the Creature to his Creator.”

It begins meditatively, but eventually grows agitated and fervent, with a vision of the “quire of Angels and Saints” “redoubling anddescanting” - an ecstatic and terrifying vision of the skies opening up. Ravenscroft then encourages the use of instrumental musicfor worship, at which point, a long, acrobatic orchestral interlude with jagged edges antagonizes the choir, who sing a kind of private, anxious meditation on two pitches.

One of the most delicious biblical texts is an Apocryphal prayer known as the Benedicite or the Prayer of the Three Children (the same who were rescued by an angel after King Nebuchadnezzar tried to have them burnt in an oven for not bowing to his image). The text is repetitive, obsessive, and a gift to composers - each line is an invocation of an element of the natural world, followed by the phrase, “blesse ye the Lord, praise him & magnify him for ever.” In Looking Up, the setting begins with three solo voices, and then grows to include the whole choir, itemizing the whole of creation. The idea that these boys are spared from the furnace and then five minutes later are saying, “O ye the fire and warming heate, blesse ye the Lord...” has always felt very loaded to me, and the orchestra plays with this conflict between joyful praise and a more terrible (in the 16th-century sense) awefor the divine.

The text for the third, and shortest, section is taken from Christopher Smart's (1722-1771) A Song to David, purportedly written during his confinement in a mental asylum. This ode to King David points out how David, as the author of some of the Psalms, observes the whole world from the “clustering spheres” to the “nosegay in the vale.&rdquo.

SKU: CA.940205

ISBN 9790007314439. German/English. Text: Rückert, Friedrich.

“L� �¶sche die Lampe getrost, hülle in Frieden dich ein” (“Put out thy lamp with good heart, lay thee then peacefully down”) – Johannes Brahms’s final cycle of secular songs for mixed choir a cappella paints a striking picture of mortality, ultimate happiness and lost youth. The 4- to 6-part songs fascinate with their immense power and range of expression, which runs from short, quiet, melancholy phrases (“breathe tremblingly forth”, “O lifeless falleth”) to elements of folk song (the horn calls in Nightwatch II) to mighty climaxes and double-choir effects produced with great economy of means. The closing movement In Autumn, with its idiosyncratic harmonies, is certainly one of Brahms’s best secular compositions.

All the songs are also available separately and as digital editions. The accompanying English text is the translation authorized by the composer himself.

SKU: CA.2702821

Language: Latin.

The Missa in Jazz is based on the five parts of the Ordinary of Roman Catholic liturgy. These texts, which originated at the time of early Christianity, have served as inspiration for composers throughout the ages. Missa in Jazz continues this tradition and encounters the words and meanings of the Ordinary of the Mass through the elements of jazz - improvisation and pulsating rhythm - one of the musical languages possible in the present age. Score and part available separately - see item CA.2702800.

SKU: CA.2702841

ISBN 9790007199074. Language: Latin.

The Missa in Jazz is based on the five parts of the Ordinary of Roman Catholic liturgy. These texts, which originated at the time of early Christianity, have served as inspiration for composers throughout the ages. Missa in Jazz continues this tradition and encounters the words and meanings of the Ordinary of the Mass through the elements of jazz - improvisation and pulsating rhythm - one of the musical languages possible in the present age. Score and part available separately - see item CA.2702800.

SKU: CA.2702809

ISBN 9790007199067. Language: Latin.

The Missa in Jazz is based on the five parts of the Ordinary of Roman Catholic liturgy. These texts, which originated at the time of early Christianity, have served as inspiration for composers throughout the ages. Missa in Jazz continues this tradition and encounters the words and meanings of the Ordinary of the Mass through the elements of jazz - improvisation and pulsating rhythm - one of the musical languages possible in the present age. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.2702800.