SKU: PR.141401030
ISBN 9781491131657. UPC: 680160679997. English. Poems by H.T. Tsiang, originally published in The Daily Worker (1928).
Ruth Crawford was a pioneering subversive in both American music and socioeconomic politics. In 1932 she discovered H.T.Tsiang’s polemic poetry in The Daily Worker (a NYC-based Communist journal), and two poems leapt out as dramatically expressing oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, showing internal class struggle even within immigrant communities. This is the genesis of the songs “Sacco, Vanzetti†and “Chinaman, Laundryman.†Musically, Crawford’s rigorous modernism not only serialized pitches, but other elements as well. This explains the slightly surprising title TWO RICERCARE, a reference to the Renaissance precursor of fugue.
SKU: GI.G-1133
UPC: 785147813323.
The Song We Sing was commissioned by the Arts Chorale of Winchester (Virginia) to honor founding artistic director Michael Main and his husband, accompanist Richard McPherson upon their retirement from the ensemble after 19 years. Scored for SATB chorus and piano four-hands, the score sets three new poems by Robert Bode, himself a well-known choral conductor as well as a poet. Track Listing: Let's Move to the Sea The Song We Sing Morning Dance “Let’s Move to the Sea†(#1) references Michael’s and Richard’s plan to relocate from Virginia to the seaside resort of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The music is marked “Brightly†and is highly rhythmic and dancelike. Robert Bode’s poem is in three verses, and the music follows this layout, with three clearly related sections. The poem “The Song We Sing†(#2) is a quiet, and rather profound, meditation on the underlying meaning of choral singing—the deeper sense of what it means to sing together. It underscores the fact that choirs often create a feeling of community where individuals are accepted for themselves without prejudice as they come together to make music. Like the first movement, “Morning Dance†(#3) is rhythmic and playful. The poem is organized into four verses, each followed by a refrain. The music, similarly, is written in four sections that are based on closely-related musical materials, each followed by a refrain of almost identical music. Everything culminates in the poem’s ecstatic final line, “Lift your arms to the sun, and dance!†The Missouri State University Chorale is the flagship choral ensemble at Missouri State University. Made up of a diverse group of singers from a variety of backgrounds, this renowned ensemble performs at an incredibly high level and enjoys an international reputation. The MSU Chorale has performed regularly at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, Missouri Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, and has toured throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cameron F. LaBarr is director of choral studies at Missouri State University, where he leads a comprehensive choral program including eight choirs and a graduate program in choral conducting. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University and earned a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas. Additionally, Dr. LaBarr has completed further study in choral music and conducting with Simon Carrington and Alice Parker. Dr. LaBarr has worked as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, recently at the China International Chorus Festival, the Bali International Choir Festival, and the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival (Ireland).
SKU: PR.114417130
ISBN 9781491110409. UPC: 680160626687. 9x12 inches.
A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai's poem Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow. The premiere was given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned the work to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. From the Program Note by Matthew Levy (The PRISM Quartet), Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work...but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspective solos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alone for a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we're excited for a wider community of saxophonists to embrace the work, and share it with their own audiences. Not Alone is published together with Happy Birthday to PRISM, a brief miniature that Chen Yi wrote for the quartet's 20th anniversary celebration in 2004. For advanced performers._________________________Text from the scanned back cover:NOT ALONE for Saxophone QuartetHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PRISM for Saxophone QuartetNot Alone is a 14-minute saxophone quartet and dance score inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.†The expansively-textured sax quartet matches the exploratory and dramatic movements and gestures in the dance. NOT ALONE was commissioned by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company which premiered the work in collaboration with the PRISM Quartet. Also included in this publication is Chen Yi’s fascinating take on “Happy Birthday to You,†composed in celebration of Prism’s 25th anniversary season.A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspiredby the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s poem “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.†The premierewas given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned thework to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. Program Note by composer Chen YiThe original inspiration for this work for both the choreographer and the composer came from the Tang Dynasty poem - Alone Under the Moon by Li Bai. The poem describes the poet being alone in a garden. The moon and his shadow became his companions that night. The choreographer brings this idea to modern life in an urban setting. She created a series of “mindscapes†which are the result of the exploration of the different mental and physical states of being alone.Through self-examination, the choreographer raises the question: are we ever really alone? Our physical being may be standing by itself, but what about our introspective self? When we are still, we let our thoughts pass by like flowing water. If we could engage with our shadows, what would it be like?Program Note by Matthew Levy, The PRISM QuartetThe PRISM Quartet has commissioned a great many composers since our founding days in 1984. Chen Yi is among ahandful of our very favorites, and one to whom we’ve returned time and time again. Her music is powerful, expansive,intimate, and draws connections between Eastern and Western, ancient and modern traditions in a voice all her own.Chen Yi has written or adapted four works for the PRISM Quartet. She penned a wonderful miniature called HappyBirth day to PRISM to celebrate the ensemble’s 20th anniversary back in 2004 (Dedication, Innova Recordings).We subsequently commissioned her to compose Septet (2008) for Erhu, Pipa, Percussion, and Saxophone Quartet(2008), premiered and recorded with the New York ensemble Music From China (Antiphony, Innova Recordings 2010).In 2015, the PRISM Quartet performed and recorded (XAS Records) a new version of her saxophone quartet concerto,BA YIN, with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Wind Ensemble under the baton of Steven Davis (originally writtenfor the Rascher Quartet and scored for saxophones and string orchestra.).Finally, Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work written for the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with the PRISMQuartet, but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspectivesolos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alonefor a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we’re excited for a wider community of saxophonists toembrace the work, and share it with their own audiences.In his liner notes for the recording, WNYC’s John Schaefer writes: “As with much of her music, Chen employs percussiveeffects and glissandi; in Chinese music these are not considered “extended techniques†or special effects, but animportant part of the performer’s arsenal. Here, they help create the twilit mood of the opening moments. The piecesoon becomes more dramatic, suggesting the arrival of the drinker’s companions (real or imagined) and his or herincreasingly garrulous outbursts. Passages of consonance and discord can easily be heard as companionable singingand bouts of drunken argument. The piece bustles along on a kind of restless energy, until, finally, that restlessnesssubsides, giving way to a gently humorous ending where a short falling phrase signals the drinker falling asleep.â€.
SKU: FP.FWS10
ISBN 979-0-57050-321-6.
The collected songs for voice and piano of aclaimed choral conductor and arranger Stephen Wilkinson. This album includes settings of Marvell's poem The Garden, a joyful expression of horticultural delights that cleverly combines an almost atonal idiom with elements of a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. The title work The Sunlight on the Garden is a setting of the MacNeice poem of the same name, and evokes darker moods of wartime by the use of a constantly evolving harmonic palette. In the field of choral music, Stephen Wilkinson is a genius. (Yorkshire Post) Simply a great choral conductor (South China Times) No praise could overstate the merits of Stephen Wilkinson's direction (The Guardian).
SKU: HF.FH-7071
ISBN 9790203470717. 8.3 x 11.7 inches.
Jacques Offenbach: 1. Hoffmanns Erzahlungen; Cesar Franck: 1. Psyche, Poeme symphonique; Bedrich Smetana: 1. Die verkaufte Braut; Alexander Borodin: 1. Polowezer Tanze; 2. Sinfonie Nr. 1; 3. Sinfonie Nr. 2; Johannes Brahms: 1. 1. Klavierkonzert; 2. 2. Klavierkonzert; 3. Konzert fur Violine und Violoncello; 4. Variationen uber ein Thema von Joseph Haydn; 5. Sinfonie Nr. 1; 6. Sinfonie Nr. 2; 7. Sinfonie Nr. 3; 8. Sinfonie Nr. 4; Amilcare Ponchielli: 1. La Gioconda; Charles-Camille Saint-Saens: 1. 3. Symphonie; Mili Alexejewitsch Balakirew: 1. Tamara (Symphonie Poem); 2. Ouverture uber russische Themen; Georges Bizet: 1. Carmen; 2. Das schone Madchen von Perth; Modest Petrowitsch Mussorgski: 1. Bilder einer Ausstellung; 2. Boris Godunow; 3. Chowanschtschina; Johann Strauss (Sohn): 1. Perpetuum Mobile, op. 257.
SKU: CF.YPS65F
ISBN 9780825864643. UPC: 798408064648. 9 X 12 inches.
This tone poem, suggested by the 4th Century struggle of the Visigoths within the Roman Empire, contrasts the slow opening four-note motive in the low brass with quicker more rhythmic material depicting the battles of the tribe with the Roman legions. From these elements, Sean O'Loughlin has crafted an exciting and sonorous piece that will show off the capabilities of a developing young band to great effect. A large percussion section is used with great skill to energize this serious concert work.
SKU: PR.111402560
UPC: 680160635085. 9 x 12 inches. Poems by Li Qingzhao (Song Dynasty 960-1278).
A set of two songs on poems from the Song Dynasty of China, As In a Dream was written in 1988 for soprano voice with violin and cello (1988). Chen revised the work in 1994 for soprano, pipa, and zheng, and then again for soprano and zheng only, an adaptation premiered by Feinan Wang (soprano) and Yu-chen Wang (zheng) for a concert in 2010. Their performance is available on YouTube.
SKU: AY.PN06
ISBN 9790302121985.
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was a prominent American composer of the early 20th century, known for his distinctive and eclectic musical style. These Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan were composed in 1917, presented here as a reprint of the original publication by G. Schirmer. An introduction by award-winning pianist Xiaoya Liu in both English and Chinese provides some insight into the life of Griffes.
SKU: PR.312418590
UPC: 680160595785. 8.5 x 11 inches. Text by Chen Yi.
Often called the Ellis Island of the West, Angel Island in San Francisco was used as an immigration station in the first half of the 20th century, processing some one million Asian immigrants. Because of U.S. policy of the time, many spent years on Angel Island awaiting entry. Recently named a National Historical Landmark, Angel Island and its history is the inspiration behind Chen Yi's Angel Island Passages, commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Chen explores the experiences of the immigrants, even using poems carved in the walls, to express the mood, the patient yearning, and the ultimate release and embrace of a new country. Angel Island Passages was premiered June 4-5, 2010 by the SFGC and the Cypress String Quartet at the San Francisco Conservatory. For advanced performers. Duration: 15'.Commissioned by San Francisco Girls Chorus (Executive Director Melanie Smith), and premiered by the SFGC and Cypress String Quartet on June 4, 2010, conducted by SFGC’s Artistic Director Susan McMane, at San Francisco Conservatory, CA, the 3-movement song cycle Angel Island Passages is written for children’s chorus and string quartet, with multimedia projection on the walls of the concert hall, produced by visual artist Felicia Lowe. The creative idea of this work was initiated by Dr. McMane, who invited me to write the music, and sent me the book “Island, poetry and history of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940â€, by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung for reference in 2009; also inspired by the Angel Island stories, and through cooperation with Felicia, who shared with me her film “Carved in Silence†and video productions “Chinatown†and “Road to Restorationâ€.I named the first movement of my work as “1882â€, which reflected the dark mood under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The collective poems carved on the wooden walls in Angel Island expressed deep emotion in sorrow and anxiety. The music in the second movement “Longing†is sad and sentimental. The third movement is called “We Are Americaâ€, which is ever-moving, energetic and optimistic. The text sung in the beginning in Chinese means “I am an Americanâ€. It’s sung in Cantonese dialect, then in Mandarin. As the music develops, from homophonic to polyphonic with increasing layers, the climax is reached when the text is turned to English “We Are Americaâ€, which symbolizes the flourishing society with the great contribution from thousands of immigrants during the years. The music fades out towards the ending of the work, which pushes the scene to a remote picture, to look forward to the future peace of the world.I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with such inspiring creative artists in this project, and hope the work is meaningful to our new society after the premiere performance.—Chen Yi.