MUSIC FOR TENOR/BASS CHOIRS
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners
(from Three Sonnets of John Donne)
Boosey & Hawkes 48004979
For the Michigan State University Men's Glee Club, Jonathan Reed, conductor
Voicing: TTBB chorus a cappella (also available for mixed chorus)
Duration: c. 5'30'
First Performance: March 2001, National ACDA convention, San Antonio, TX, Michigan
State University Men's Glee Club, Jonathan Reed, conductor
Text: John Donne (1572-1631)
At the round earth's imagined corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels; and arse, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall, o'erthrow.
All whom war, death, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain and you whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death's woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space;
For, if above all these, my sins abound,
"Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground,
Teach me how to repent; for that's as good
As if Thou hadst sealed my pardon with Thy blood.
The guys absolutely love the power of this piece. The contrast between fanfare-like sections and very tender moments like the "amen" make it challenging and fulfilling in performance.
Jonathan Reed, conductor
Michigan State University Men's Glee Club
The writings of John Donne are epressions of one man's wrestling with human nature, illness, pain, doubt, faith, trust and hope. All of this English metaphysical poet's words are highly imaginative, evocative, personal and heartfelt. Singers should be mindful of the meaning of the words and attempt to express them musically.
Born of the Sun
Boosey & Hawkes 48019658
For the 25th Anniversary of the Mu Eta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, University of Central Florida
Voicing: TBB with French horn and piano
Duration: c. 4'15"
First Performance: November 12, 2004, Mu Eta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia,
25th anniversary Gala, Orlando, FL, Anthony Rivera, conductor
Text: Stephen Spender (1909-1995)
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb,
remembered the soul's history.
Through corridors of light
where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the spirit clothed from
head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies
like blossoms.
What is precious is never to forget
The delight of the blood
drawn from ancient springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth;
Never to deny its pleasure
in the simple morning light,
Nor its grave evening demand for love;
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass,
And by the streamers of white cloud,
And whispers of wind in the listening sky;
The names of those who in their lives
fought for life,
ho wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while
towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.
Stephen Spender’s poem I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great reminds us of those qualities of ambition and striving, passion and spirit that seem particularly appropriate for this commission in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Mu Eta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at the University of Central Florida. It speaks, in larger context, however, about all those "born of the sun" who wear at their hearts the fire's center, whose passion leaves the "vivid air signed with their honor" and strikes a similar resonance in us, as well.
The opening vocal fantares and closing hymn should be sung with majesty and conviction, the inner passages with lyricism and warmth.
Brothers of the Singing Void
Boosey & Hawkes 48021117
Commissioned by the Southern Division of the American Choral Directors Association for the 2010 ACDA Southern Division Convention Men's Honor Chorus, Jonathan Reed, conductor
Voicing: TTBB chorus with piano
Duration: c. 4'30"
First Performance: The 2010 ACDA Southern Divisiion Convention Men's Honor Chorus,
Jonathan Reed, conductor, March 2010
Text: James Broughton (1913-1999)
Often my ears ring with the sound the stars make
I hear it in the songs my sky brothers sing
when they shift their voices into high unison
to praise the shining fellowship of heaven
Across percussive silences of space
my brothers explore interstellar polyphony
and compose obstreperous oratorios
that stir old saints to dally forth in dance
Often their voices encircle the Earth
like a choral zodiac of orbiting friends
to remind me that star music is the intimate roar
of celestial bodies in orgiastic concord
Thriving on affection in their spacious glee
my harmonious brothers of the singing void
are closer to me than my own children
Soon I shall be going home to them again
Orchestral version
Boston Gay Men's Chorus
Reuben M. Reynolds III, conductor
Brothers of the Singing Void is a significant addition to the male chorus repertory. Textually, it takes the theme of fraternity, a universal theme in men's music, and extends it beyond earthly boundaries. There is also the textual juxtaposition of opposites . . . singing and void, orgiastic and concord... that causes one to think deeply about the text. Lastly, the musical setting is so well paced... Every phrase is structured in a way that it is simply a joy to sing.
Jonathan Reed
Associate Director of Choral Programs
Michigan State UniversityI became familiar with James Broughton's writings when I set his exquisite poem This Magicker for treble voices several years back. On the very first reading I knew that "Brothers of the Singing Void" was a text I would set and had only to wait for the right occasion and right choir. The opportunity came from an invitation to write a commissioned work for the 2010 Southern Division ACDA High School Men's Honor Choir. It premiered in Memphis on March 13, 2010, conducted by Jonathan Reed.
Broughton's wonderful words evoke the music of the spheres, of "star music". There are unusual juxtapositions of seeming opposites: "percussive silences", "the intimate roar", "the singing void", and joyful phrases flung from across time and space: "The shining fellowship of heaven", "spacious glee", "my harmonious brothers'. Jonathan Reed said this is the perfect men's choir text and I agree. There is a strong bond of brotherhood in these words, "thriving on affection", "closer to me than my own children".
The music reflects space in broad, majestic phrases, harmonic clusters, a slightly modal feel with an altered raised 4th, and echoing refrains of "Brothers! Brothers!"
Use vocal color and sensitivity to text and language to make the songs of the sky brothers come alive. Let your ears ring with "the sound the stars make".
The Circles of Our Lives
Boosey & Hawkes 48019111
For the Turtle Creek Chorale, Timothy Seelig, conductor
Voicing: TTBB chorus with piano (also available for treble chorus and mixed chorus)
Instrumental version full score and parts (fl, ob, cl, bsn, st qt and piano) and string
orchestra version available on rental from the composer
Duration: c. 4'
First Performance: Turtle Creek Chorale, Timothy Seelig, Artistic Director,
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, Texas, March 21 and 24, 2004.
String orchestra version premiered at Carnegie Hall May 28, 2011, conducted by David
Brunner.
Text: Wendell Berry (b. 1934)
Within the circles of our lives
we dance the circles of the years,
the circles of the seasons
within the circles of the years,
the cycles of the moon
within the circles of the seasons,
the circles of our reasons
within the cycles of the moon.
Again, again we come and go,
changed, changing. Hands
join, unjoin in love and fear,
grief and joy. The circles turn,
each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,
each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
we turn in pairs, that joining,
joining each to all again.
And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone
into the darker circles of return.
The original treble version of The Circles of Our Lives was commissioned by the Endowment Fund of the American Choral Directors Association in memory of Raymond W. Brock, who served the American Choral Directors Association as Director of Development and Administrative Assistant. Its first performances were at the seven divisional ACDA conventions in the spring of 2000. The prestigious list of American composers who have been chosen to write the Brock works includes Carlisle Floyd, Daniel Gawthrop, Gian Carlo Menotti, James Mulholland, Stephen Paulus, Daniel Pinkham, Gwyneth Walker and Samuel Adler.
The Circles of Our Lives began as an emotional response to a poem by Wendell Berry, entitled simply "Song." I had not known the poetry of Wendell Berry until very recently, but immediately found in him a voice that touched me by its contemplative and inspirational nature and by the reverence in each and every word. i found in his words a profound sincerity and respect for the wonder of life. This gentle poem of life's cycles seemed exceedingly appropriate for this work in memory of Raymond Brock.
When Tim Selig, conductor of the Turtle Creek Chorale, approached me regarding this work, it had not occurred to me to arrange it for tenor/bass voices. But it did not take long to realize that this color (and especially this choir) was particularly well suited to the words. His insistence was the impetus and his chorus the inspiration for this new version. The Turtle Creek Chorale gave the first performances on March 21 and 24, 2004 in the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas.
Though the setting is predominantly syllabic, there should be a flow and shape to the melodic line. Sing in a legato fashion and use the text to shape the expansive melodic ideas. Mr. Berry's words are wonderfully rhythmic and musical. Take care that successive eighth notes do not accumulate speed, but that the rhythm feels unhurried and gently undulating. Above all, sing thoughtfully and with feeling.
Grand Is the Seen
TBA
For the Koninklijke Zangvereeniging Nijmeegs Mannenkoor, Dion Ritten, conductor, on their 150th Anniversary
Voicing: TTBB chorus with piano. (also available for mixed chorus) Orchestral version by Ron Ellis.
Full score and parts available on rental from the composer.
Duration: c. 4'
First Performance: Koninklijke Zangvereeniging Nijmeegs Mannenkoor, Dion Ritten,
conductor, Concertgebouw De Varrenigning, Beuningen, Netherlands,
November 30, 2008
Text: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Grand is the seen, the light, to me --
grand are the sky and stars,
Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting
time and space.
And grand their laws, so multiform,
puzzling, evolutionary;
But grander far the unseen soul of me,
comprehending, endowing all those,
Lighting the light, the sky and stars,
delving the earth, sailing the sea,
(What were all those, indeed, without thee,
unseen soul? Of what amount without thee?)
More evolutionary, vast, puzzling,
O my soul!
More multiform far -- more lasting thou than they.
I Am in Need of Music
Boosey & Hawkes 48019728
For the Turtle Creek Chorale, Jonathan Palant, Artistic Director
Voicing: TTBB chorus with piano. (also available for treble chorus and mixed chorus)
Chamber orchestra version full score and parts available
from the publisher 48019973
Duration: c. 4'
First Performance: The Turtle Creek Chorale, Jonathan Palant, Artistic Director,
October 7, 2007, Myerson Symphony Hall, Dallas, TX
Text: Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) Sonnet
I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song, sung to rest the tired dead.
A song to fall like water on my head.
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!
There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.
Morehouse College Glee Club
David E. Morrow, conductor
Order orchestral version parts
Every once in a while, a conductor finds a piece of music that has the ability to reach the deepest part of one’s soul. It is even more rare to find a work that does so for singer and audience member alike. Dr. Brunner has created such a composition in I Am In Need Of Music. Elizabeth Bishop’s text is duly touching and suitable for any aged ensemble. While the notes and rhythms are not complex, this work requires all the musicality one chorus can muster. I, along with the Turtle Creek Chorale, am honored to have commissioned and premiered the TTBB arrangement of this stunning choral work.
Jonathan Palant, Artistic Director
Turtle Creek Chorale
I was a student of David Nott at Illinois Wesleyan University, so when asked to write a work in his memory, it was both an honor and humbling experience. i remember him as a very tall man with a profound bass voice, an elegant conducting technique, a quick wit, and an engaging manner as a conductor and performer. He was an inspiration for me.
This was not an easy piece to write, as I wanted it to be so many things to so many people. i felt I was writing it for him, for his wife Anne, his children, the Collegiate Choir, for us -- his former students -- and for the singers in all our choirs who didn't know him, but may be touched in some way by this music. The process started -- and stopped -- many times. In the end I wrote music that is reflective, lush and lyrical, with the text always foremost.
I have been attracted to Elizabeth Bishop's Sonnet for some time. Each phrase seems to sing itself off the page: "I am in need of music that would flow over my fretful, feeling finger-tips"; "O for the healing swaying, old and low, of some song, sung to rest the tired dead"; "There is a magic made by melody"; "Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep". These seem appropriate words for David Nott, his family, and the extended community of his former students.
This version for tenor/bass voices was commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale in honor of Dr. Jonathan Palant's inaugural concert as Artistic Director of the chorale, at the Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas on October 7, 2007.
The Us of Me
Boosey & Hawkes 48004665
For the Orlando Gay Chorus, Aubrey Connelly, director
Voicing: TTBB chorus with piano (also available for mixed chorus)
Duration: c. 3'
First Performance: 5 July 1996, Bob Carr Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando, Florida,
Orlando Gay Chorus, David Brunner, guest conductor.
Text: David L. Brunner
The spark to light a thousand suns
lies deep within the human heart.
Its source but single, solitary,
flickers with uncertainty.
Yet when combined with kindred souls
combusts, ignites, is kindled, glows
with fervor and intensity.
It's warm embrace our lives impart.
Ignite the world with light to see,
to feel, to touch, to will, to be,
to laugh, to dance, to love per chance,
to celebrate the us of me.
This single light, this voice so small
swells full when joined each part with part.
Its vibrancy but yearns to glow
with equal strength in ev'ry heart.
For in such love, such unity,
lives all the stars and mystery.
True selves affirmed, unbound our souls,
all hearts embraced, our lives made whole.
... I was instantly drawn to the lyrics of the piece and I knew it would be a great choice for the Orlando Gay Chorus to sing. OGC performed The Us of Me in three separate concerts, each time to much critical praise. However, the most interesting experience was after the first printing... I was in a choral reading clinic with about 100 other music directors. The clinician led us through the piece and the room went wild. The other directors all loved the piece with its simple yet captivating melody, and the words spoke to everyone there. There was a real "buzz" in the room after our first read through. So much so that later in the day the group demanded to read through it again and spend more time discussing it.
Aubrey Conelly, Director
Orlando Gay Chorus
See listing under Mixed Choirs for additional annotation.
Yo le Canto todo el Dia
Boosey & Hawkes 48021243
TTB version for the Grand Prarie Boys' Choir, Jeannie Vanwynsberghe Pernal, Founer/Director
J. W. Pepper Editor's Choice
Voicing: TTB chorus with piano (also available for treble chorus and mixed chorus)
Duration: c. 3’
First Performance: December 11, 2010, The Grande Prairie Boys' Choir, Jeannie Pernal, Director, Grande Prarie, Alberta, Canada.
Text: Anonymous
So I am moving with my heart,
So I am leaving with a drum,
I sing to you all day long
with affection and joy,
So I am leaving with a drum
with affection and emotion.
Conversation about Yo le Canto todo el Dia with Matthew van Dyke on the Choral Catalogue
Originally written for treble voices and also scored for SATB chorus, this version for tenor/bass voices has a distinctive color and fits perfectly!
The writing is rhythmic and angular, with strong contours and syncopated rhythms. The phrase that first appears in measures 13 - 16 and recurs often has a contrasting lyrical sensibility and should be phrased appropriately, while the refrain beginning in measure 32 (la la la) has a light, buoyant quality. The piano features prominently and should be strong and pedaled sparingly. Clapping should be bright, diction declamatory and crisp.
I've often been asked about the "y" of "j" consonant for "ya" and "yo" and have heard performances both ways. When I originally wrote this piece, a Venezuelan student of mine suggested that in less formal, "everyday" seech, it may be closer to the "j" sound and I like the percussive nature of that.
