SONGS AND CHORAL MUSIC:
Words often serve as a source of musical inspiration, if only as an evocative title or a borrowed poetic image for musical illumination. These formal concert works employ actual text — pieces for solo voice and piano, chorus a cappella, or chorus accompanied by piano or an ensemble.
World for the Beholder (1980, rewritten 2018). Cantata: chorus, fl, ob, cl, 2 hn, tpt, pno, 2 vln, vla, vcl, cb
World for the Beholder is a cantata for a moderate-sized chorus with brief passages for soprano and baritone soloists, accompanied by a 12-piece ensemble or small orchestra. The uplighting and mystical text is from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The first movement describes the purity and magic of a new day, and the last movement evaluates life’s experience at sunset with respect and awe. In between is a kinetic instrumental interlude. The three movements are performed together without pause. The video enhances the narrative with photographs and provides the text in subtitles. The audio is MIDI. The work is not intended to be a movie.
I. Wandering at Morn (6:12)
II. Interlude (5:48)
III. Song at Sunset (14:58)
Souls (1996) Song Cycle: solo voices (soprano, tenor, baritone) with piano accompaniment
The Spoon River Anthology is a collection of poems by Edgar Lee Masters, published in 1915. Each poem is an epitaph for a resident of a small midwestern town that reveals aspects of his or her life, losses, values and, often, regrets. Souls, a song cycle, includes six of these poems, and each vocalist is assigned two of them. While the cycle is effective when performed as a unit, each song is complete in itself and may be performed separately from the others. I have provided the poems as a separate file which can be followed while listening to the audio performance.
I. Julian Scott (baritone) 3:12
II. Marie Bateson (soprano) 3:20
III. Walter Simmons (tenor) 2:13
IV. Ernest Hyde (baritone) 3:25
V. Mrs. Sibley (soprano) 2:48
VI. John Milton Miles (tenor) 2:47
Songs of Contemplation, Love and Hope (2004, 2017) SATB a cappella chorus
Songs of Contemplation, Love and Hope (12:43)
On texts by Alexander Pushkin in English translation, these four songs cover a range of intense emotions. While each of these short songs can stand on its own, they present themselves best as a set. The last song, “Liberty”, has been set a couple of different ways: SATB with piano accompaniment, and also as a trio of solo voices (STB) with piano accompaniment. I have provided the full score in the video. The audio—with apologies—is MIDI.
I. It’s Time 2:17
II. Valediction 3:58
III. I Loved You Once 1:31
IV. Liberty 4:43
Heaven’s River (1996) SATB chorus, oboe, clarinet, 2 percussion, piano (9:34)
Using an exuberant mix of rhythmic energy and flowing counterpoint, this piece was inspired by the joyous words of Rabindranath Tagore. The percussion of the accompanying ensemble involves a glockenspiel, vibraphone, suspended cymbal, tambourine, snare drum and bass drum. No professional recording exists, so again MIDI must suffice. The video provides the text as subtitles.