SKU: HL.1189332
UPC: 196288130857. 6.75x10.5x0.008 inches.
Sometimes profundity emerges through simplicity. Composer Matthew Emery specializes in making musical statements that carry all the harmonic weight of a divisi choir, while using only four voice parts. This meditative piece matches his musical artistry with the wisdom of polymath Rabindranath Tagore. Sing it through on sounds without words, then add the text, and you will be transported.
SKU: FG.55011-348-0
ISBN 9790550113480.
Shiki began as a request for a short winter-themed piece for the Hamalais-Osakunnan Laulajat choir in Helsinki. It eventually grew into a four seasons-type cycle on haiku by a 20th century Japanese monk Santoka Taneda. The music of Shiki is a progression through various states of near-stasis. The main impression the composer wished to convey was the one of absolute stillness at the heart of each scene, of communion with the outer world, as if the viewer were drawing the landscape into him, and at the same time dissolving himself into it. The voices are treated texturally, as well as textually, moving on slow masses, with the soft but precisecely colored vowels of Japanese creating the basic sounds, and the sharper consonants giving them shape and definition.
SKU: FG.55011-355-5
Asked to contribute a carol to the already rich Finnish Christmas repertoire, music I've sung myself for many years, I was very aware of the things that mark the season for my adopted countrymen: peace, stillness, the cold landscape and home. When I came across Ester Ahokainen's gentle poem, so focused around these images, it seemed like providence. The resulting song is modest and warmly modal, departing only a little from Finnish tradition: a lingering dissonance here, a moment of quiet sentiment held slightly longer expected there. Like the words, the music opens outward in thanks at the end. Aattoilta was composed for the Helsinki Chamber Choir Christmas CD recording, and is dedicated to them.
SKU: GI.G-10450
UPC: 785147045014. English. Text by David Bjorlin. Scripture: Isaiah 25:6–9, Isaiah 65:17–25, Matthew 28, Mark 16:1–13, Luke 24, John 20:1–18, Romans 6:3–11, Revelation 21:1–7.
This choral arrangement was written during the height of the COVID pandemic with virtual choirs in mind. The piece is wonderfully adaptable whether sung by a vocal quartet or a full choir, featuring unison lines that may be taken by a soloist and a violin part that could be played by any treble C instrument or even incorporated into the piano accompaniment.
SKU: MN.50-1137
UPC: 688670511370. English.
A lilting choral accompaniment evokes pizzicato sounds surrounding the tenor melody in verse one. The other verses are set more conventionally but still reflect the goals of our Christmas with The Singers series: that the audience will enjoy the famliarity of the carol but be enchanted by the creativity of the arrangement. Challenging, but masterful in how Matthew Culloton treats the ensemble as a self-sufficient choral idiom. Duration 2:30.
SKU: GI.G-10506
UPC: 785147050612. English. Text Source: Matthew 19:14, Mark 4:39, John 13:34, 14:1, 6, 15:9, 21:15-17, adapt. Scripture: John 14:6, John 14:1, John 21:15, Matthew 19:14, John 13:34, John 15:9, Mark 4:39.
This collection of short pieces is based on seven familiar messages of Jesus: I Am the Way, Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled, Feed My Lambs, Tend My Sheep, Let the Children Come to Me, A New Commandment, Live in My Love, Abide in My Love, and Peace, Be Still. The pieces are arranged for SATB choir and meant to be sung a cappella.
SKU: GI.WW1737
UPC: 785147016564. English. Text by Sidney Lanier.
A driven, optimistic, and powerful setting of Sidney Lanier's gorgeous text, Sail Fast! will certainly be a favorite of your singers and audience. Written in the style of an upbeat Broadway song, the instrumentation and vocal writing is dynamic, offering teaching moments while still being accessible and fun for your singers.
SKU: FG.55011-455-5
ISBN 9790550114555.
This cycle of carols, to the poetry of Christina Rossetti, was assembled piecemeal over a number of years, gradually acquiring a larger dramatic and harmonic arch shape as new settings were added. I was particularly attracted to Rossetti's conflation of the dark, fallow winter landscape with that of the soul waiting for salvation. The cycle traces the long nights of watchfulness before Christmas, with the great event constantly deferred, only glimpsed periodically in different visions before the music turns inward again to contemplation. The opening carol embodies this spirit, with passages of diffuse, roving harmony interspersed with meditative, lyrical pedals, calling out the night watch and dreaming of a far-off summer of the spirit. Earth Grown Old is a kind of double carol, setting two complete poems, their lines at first presented separately as a still, expectant chorale and a jubilant dance, then progressively interwoven toward a fervent climax before once again receding into quiet. In the bleak mid-winter, which sets a highly compressed version of Rossetti's original poem, presents an enfeebled landscape frozen in time, in dire need of deliverance. A gentle melody weaves its way through static drones, broken by an angels' chorus announcing the joy to come. Love Came Down at Christmas ends the waiting, with its gently falling, overlapping lines building to a final revelation, the mystery of Christmas at last made real.