Los Robles Master Chorale

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2012|13 LRMC Program Notes

Western Skies

With Western Skies, êkō celebrates the rich tradition of folk tunes and cowboy songs that have their roots in the American West, with classic arrangements by some of the giants of the American choral repertoire.

Composer and arranger Alice Parker (b.1925) worked closely for many years with the legendary Robert Shaw (1916-1999), with whom she studied choral conducting at the Juilliard School. êkō begins the concert with her a cappella arrangement of the American folk song Goin’ to Boston.

Down in the Valley is a traditional Kentucky folk tune also known as "Birmingham Jail." Like many American folk songs, its melody may have originally come from England. This atmospheric arrangement for male voices was written in 1948 by George Mead (1902-1996), one of the most celebrated choral conductors in New York City during the 1940s and ’50s.

Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair is a traditional folk song, first heard in the Appalachian Mountains around 1915, although it most probably originated in Scotland. It is one of the most widely recorded folk songs, with dozens of covers by everyone from Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, and Joan Baez, to Jo Stafford and Nina Simone, to a parody version by the Smothers Brothers. The SATB arrangement the chorus performs tonight is by Roger Wagner (1914-1992), founder of the Roger Wagner Chorale and later the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

The women of êkō sing Jester Hairston’s (1901-2000) rousing arrangement of the traditional spiritual Elijah Rock. An African-American composer, arranger, conductor, and actor, Hairston graduated from Tufts University and studied music at the Juilliard School. He worked as a choir conductor early in his career, and his work with choirs on Broadway eventually led to his singing and acting in plays, films, radio programs, and television shows. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, which was established in 1937.

Western Skies features a number of songs arranged by the incomparable Norman Luboff (1917-1987). A nationally recognized choral arranger, composer and conductor, Luboff achieved his fame in Hollywood in the late 1940s, writing choral and vocal arrangements for several films. Today he is probably best remembered as the founder and conductor of the Norman Luboff Choir, a choral organization that toured extensively and recorded more than 75 albums from the ’50s through the ’70s, winning a Grammy® Award for Best Performance by a Chorus in 1961. First up is Deep River, an American spiritual set with very typical rich Luboff harmonies stacked in the men’s voices.

My Hometown was written by former Sons of the Pioneer members Glenn Spencer (1900-1970) and Ken Curtis (Festus of Gunsmoke fame) (1916-1991), and recorded by Curtis in the 1970s. The text is a sentimental reminiscence of small town life in times past. The tune has long been a personal favorite of Lesley Leighton, who wrote this arrangement specifically for êkō and the instruments playing at this, its premiere performance.

The American ballad Snagtooth Sal,with its somewhat tongue-in-cheek text, was published in a collection edited by musicologist and folklorist John Lomax (1867-1948) in 1919, following the publication of a fragment of the song (melody line and some text) in the Saturday Evening Post. Tenor Howard Chitjian and the men of the Roger Wagner Chorale recorded it for the Songs of the Frontier album in the 1950s. Lesley Leighton knew she wanted to feature the song in tonight’s concert, but could not locate a copy of Wagner’s arrangement — so she created one that is very reminiscent of the original. Leighton says it was one of the most fun arrangements to write, knowing that the men of êkō would so enjoy singing it.

Another new arrangement, When You and I Were Young, Maggie, has a melancholy text by George Washington Johnson, a school teacher, written for Margaret Clark, an ailing student whom he loved. The pair did eventually marry, but Maggie died a year later. James Austin Butterfield (1837-1891) set the poem to music in 1866. The song was recorded by Milburn Stone (Doc on Gunsmoke), as well as by Perry Como and Gene Autry. This arrangement, like others Leighton has done for this concert, was written for this group of singers and these instruments, with Clay Patterson in mind for the solo.

The first half of the program ends with Cindy,a popular American folk song which, according to John Lomax, originated in North Carolina. In the early and middle 20th century, Cindy often was included in the songbooks used in elementary school music programs as a representative example of folk music. This arrangement for double choir by Mack Wilberg (b.1955), music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was written in 1989 for the Brigham Young University Concert Choir.

The men of êkō open the second half of the concert with Roger Wagner’s Western Songs, a compilation of pieces that were arranged by both Wagner and Salli Terri (1922-1996) for national tours of the Roger Wagner Chorale in the mid-20th century. The individual arrangements were strung together as a medley known as "Songs of the Frontier" in the 1970s, when esteemed accompanist Robert Hunter (1929-2001) was touring with the chorale. It was not published until 1991, when Paul Salamunovich (b.1927), having used the songs with his own men’s chorus at Loyola Marymount for an appearance at a national ACDA convention, convinced Hunter to write down the piano accompaniment so that Wagner could finally publish the pieces as a medley. Evoking the nostalgia and high-spirit of the Western frontier, Wagner’s Western Songs remain a favorite of audiences across America and abroad.

êkō next performs a set of three classic arrangements by Norman Luboff. Oh My Love is arranged here for 4-part women’s voices, while, Cowboy’s Dream and Colorado Trail are sung by the 4-part men’s choir.

Cool Water was written in 1936 by Bob Nolan (1908-1980), a founding member of The Sons of the Pioneers. The best-selling 1948 recording by Vaughn Monroe and The Sons of the Pioneers stayed on the Billboard chart for 13 weeks, peaking at #9. This arrangement is by Roy Ringwald (1910-1995), who was born in Helena, Montana, and grew up in Santa Monica, California. He joined Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians as a singer and arranger in 1935, becoming one of the most accomplished choral arrangers of his time.

Shenandoah, certainly one of the most beloved American folk songs, dates to the early 19th century. Its origins are unknown, and there are different interpretations regarding the story it tells. Some believe it is a love story between a rover and the daughter of an Indian chief; others say it is the story of a pioneer who is nostalgic for the Shenandoah River Valley and the young woman he left behind there; still others think it is the reminiscence of a Union soldier during the Civil War, dreaming of his home west of the Missouri. Shenandoah was first printed in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in July 1882 as part of William Alden’s article, "Sailor Songs," because it had become popular as a chantey on both riverboats and seafaring ships. The version we present is the luscious arrangement by James Erb (b.1926), considered by many to be one of the standard gems of choral repertoire.

Norman Luboff’s arrangement of Riders in the Sky sets the famous tune written by Western writer Stan Jones (1914-1963) for men’s chorus — a rousing cowboy rendition of one of the most recognized of all Western songs.

On the Trail, the closing medley of our Western Skies concert, is a compilation of songs about traveling "on the trail": Along the Santa Fe Trail; Blue Shadows on the Trail; Trail of the Mountain Rose; and The Old Trail (aka Theme from Gunsmoke). "I learned of the first three songs in 2007 when I was studying western swing guitar with David Ferguson — our featured guitarist on this concert — from lead sheets and chords he had prepared," Leighton recalls. "They are such wonderful songs, mostly written in the late 30s and early 40s for many of the ‘B’ western films that graced the southern California landscape and movie theatres during those decades. Gene Autry recorded some, the Sons of the Pioneers others. Along the Santa Fe Trail was written by Al Dubin (1891-1945), Edwina Coolidge, and Will Grosz (1894-1939) and has been recorded by everyone from Glenn Miller and Jimmy Wakely to Bing Crosby and the Sons of the Pioneers. It is one of my all-time favorite tunes and in this arrangement really features the voices of the chorus. Blue Shadows on the Trail was written by Eliot Daniel (1908-1997) and Johnny Lange (1905-2006) in 1947 and was first performed by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers in the film Melody Time (1948). In our version it features the choir and the harmonica! Trail of the Mountain Rose was written by Al Clauser (1911-1989) and Tex Hoepner in 1937 for a Western called Rootin’ Tootin’ Rhythm starring Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette. It was performed in the film by Al Clauser and His Oklahoma Outlaws. Our arrangement features the choir and highlights the simplicity of the melody and rhythms, which are at times hauntingly beautiful. The Old Trail was written by Rex Koury (1911-2006) and Glenn Spencer for the original radio series, Gunsmoke. The story goes that Koury had composed a lot of music for use on the show, but forgot to create a main title and wrote the Theme to Gunsmoke, as it is more commonly known, the night before it was recorded. Our version does incorporate a few nods to the version used on the television show, both in how it begins and how it ends. This entire medley also features the wonderful instrumentalists who are joining êkō for this concert — a Western swing concert wouldn’t be the same without them! Also, for a little extra fun, listen carefully to the accompanying instruments throughout this medley. They occasionally play portions of themes of other popular tunes — see how many you can hear!"
– Robert Weibezahl

Holiday Treasures

Los Robles Master Chorale is delighted once again to present Holiday Treasures, its annual family-oriented holiday concert.

Brad Printz (1955-2005) was a Kansas City-based music educator and highly respected composer and arranger of choral music. His exhilarating arrangement of Sing With Joy, Sing Noel! (Personent Hodie), a fourteenth century German tune, adds a new English text to the traditional Latin and incorporates handbell accompaniment.

The anonymous Chinese text (c.1935) used by St. Olaf College Emeritus Professor of Music Carolyn Jennings in Pengyou, Ting! (Listen, friend!) appears in a Chinese hymnal with a different melody than the one used here. Instead, Jennings uses a Chinese folk melody that appears in the same hymnal, but with a different text. The ancient pentatonic melody carries the text with graceful buoyancy. Venez, mes enfants is one of three Noëls Anciens arranged for chorus by Canadian music professor Donald Patriquin (b.1938). The Noëls Anciens are a form of popular literature, spiritual songs of the Nativity which date back to the medieval Mystery Plays and still come to life at Christmastime in France and Quebec. They depict, often in picturesque detail and without the least concern for authenticity, the customs of the time and the various events connected with the Nativity story.Venez, mes enfants originates from the Alsace region.Natufurahi Siku Ya Leo, a traditional Taita folk song arranged by Boniface Mganga (b.1954), was popularized by Mganga and his Muungano National Choir (f.1979). A native Kenyan, Mganga brought African music into the Western world through touring and recordings with the Muungano National Choir. Set in a typical Kenyan call and response style, Natufurahi Siku Ya Leo has a simple harmonic structure; the complexities are in the rhythm of the percussion.

Daddy’s Christmas Cowboy was written in 1955 by brothers Tim and Glenn Spencer, with words by Red Rowe. Tim Spencer was one of the Sons of the Pioneers and many of the songs he composed or co-composed with his brother Glenn, were written for performance by that group. This particular song, however, never saw the light of day. There is one unpublished recording, sung by Ken Curtis (Sons of the Pioneers, Gunsmoke), but the sheet music was never actually published. The arrangement we present this evening was created by dictating the melody and harmonic structure from the recording and was arranged in the style of Barbershop for the men of the chorale, with apologies to Ken Curtis and the brothers Spencer!

Brightest and Best, arranged by Shawn Kirchner (b. 1970), is a Southern Harmony (1835) hymn using a text by Reginald Heber (1811). Shawn’s setting employs much spirit and solid four-part male singing from the choir, and a rather demanding part for the piano accompaniment. Like all of Shawn’s arrangements, this piece was written with the singer in mind, so it sings easily and with much beauty.

Morten Lauridsen’s (b. 1943) setting of O Magnum Mysterium is one of the most beloved choral pieces of the last two decades. Commissioned by Marshall Rutter in honor of his wife, Terry Knowles, the piece had its world premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Paul Salamunovich (b. 1927), in December 1994. Los Angeles Master Chorale’s subsequent recording of the motet was featured on the Grammy® Award-nominated Lux Aeterna. Lauridsen himself has written, "For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful O magnum mysterium text with its juxtaposition of the birth of the new-born King amongst the lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God’s grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy." Lauridsen has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than forty years. In 2006, he was named an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2007 he received the National Medal of Arts from the President in a White House ceremony, "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide."

The men of the chorale sing one of the most famous and performed Christmas songs of all time, Do You Hear What I Hear?, arranged by Harry Simeone (1911-2005). It is always a welcome addition to a holiday program, but the male chorus version is particularly exciting.

There have been many arrangements of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, the English-language version of the German Marian hymn, Es ist ein Ros’ Entsprungen, which dates from the 15th century and was harmonized by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) in 1609. This lovely and rousing version, a gentle gospel retelling of the German carol, was written by Shawn Kirchner in 2006 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Kirchner’s creative harmonization and stylization make this arrangement one of the more unique and fun versions of this beloved carol.

The second half of the program opens with the modern-day carol, Christmastime, which debuted on the 1998 holiday album of the same name by contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith (b 1957), a Billboard top ten and multiple Grammy®-winning recording artist. This arrangement by Heather Sorenson features some members and friends of the chorale lending their talents to handbells.

This relatively new arrangement of O Jesulein Zart, written in 1623 by German Baroque composer Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), was made by British composer and Decca recording producer, Chris Hazell (b 1948), for baritone Bryn Terfel, who recorded it on his 2010 album, Carols & Christmas Songs, with the Welsh choir, Cordydd. Los Robles Master Chorale is proud to present the American premiere of Hazell’s beautiful arrangement.

Brother Heinrich’s Christmas: A Fable with Music was written by esteemed British composer John Rutter (b. 1945). "According to a familiar legend," Rutter has written, "the lovely carol In dulci jubilo was first sung by a band of angels, who came down to visit the 14th century Dominican mystic Heinrich Suso and dance with him one night when he was unhappy and in low spirits. After the angels had departed, Suso wrote down the carol so that he should never forget how beautiful it was. That much of Brother Heinrich’s Christmas could be fact; the rest is invention — though choir directors might agree that their choir contains at least one donkey, with vocal resources just as limited as Sigismund’s. No doubt it is too much to expect that, as a general rule, the angels will come to the rescue of every composer up against a tight deadline ... but, on Christmas Night, anything is possible." We assure you that tonight’s "Donkey," Clay Patterson, does not suffer from limited vocal resources. We are also indebted to John de Lancie for providing a slightly streamlined rewrite of Rutter’s original text and to Todd Leitz for bringing the narration to life!

The most famous song by American composer Robert MacGimsey (1898-1979), Sweet Little Jesus Boy was published in 1934. Born in Pineville, Louisiana, MacGimsey was Caucasian, but spent much of his childhood in the company of African Americans who worked for his family, which proved a great influence on the style of his music, which borrows much from African American traditions. This arrangement was written by the legendary Roger Wagner (1914-1992) for his equally legendary Roger Wagner Chorale (f. 1946).

Grammy® Award winner Salli Terri (1922-1996) was a soloist and arranger for the Roger Wagner Chorale beginning in 1953. She also recorded several solo albums, including the particularly memorable Conversations with Guitar with Laurindo Almeida (1917-1995), and was widely known for her renditions of folk songs. Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head is a folk song written by John Jacob Niles (1892-1980) that Terri arranged and sang for the Wagner Chorale in the 1950s, and recorded in Studio A at Capitol® Records for the Joy to the World album.

Irving Berlin’s (1888-1989) White Christmas is a standard that is known the world over. Born Israel Isidore Baline in the Russian Empire, Berlin emigrated with his family to New York City where he lived until he died at the ripe age of 101 in 1989. Considered to be one of the greatest song writers of all time, Berlin penned White Christmas in 1942 for the film Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby – Crosby’s subsequent recording of this song remained the best-selling single in any music category for more than fifty years. Berlin won the Academy® Award for Best Music in an Original Song for this composition.

Nearly as popular as the Berlin classic, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) was written by Mel Tormé (1925-1999) and Robert Wells (1922-1998) in 1944. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer in an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool." Nat King Cole (1919-1965) recorded the song four times between 1946 and 1961, with the last, stereophonic version, now considered the definitive recording, although countless other performers have recorded it as well. This choral version, arranged by Walter Ehret (1918-2009), exploits the pop melody with close, jazz-influenced harmonies.

The wildly popular Carol of the Bells (made all the more familiar by those ubiquitous holiday champagne commercials), was composed in 1904 by Ukrainian Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921), who based it on a traditional folk chant. The original Ukrainian text tells of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that the family will have. It was associated with the coming New Year which, in pre-Christian Ukraine, was celebrated with the coming of spring in April. In contemporary Ukraine, the chant in sung on New Year’s Eve. American Peter J. Wilhousky (1902-1978) wrote the English-language lyrics in 1936.

One of the most often heard Christmas carols, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!, was written by hymnist Charles Wesley in the 18th century. Robert Hunter (1929-2001) arranged the song as a commission celebrating 75 years of Jesuit higher education in Los Angeles, for Loyola Marymount University in 1988 at the request of its beloved Fr. Richard H. Trame, S.J., Ph D. (1921-1998). The arrangement demonstrates clearly the virtuosity of Hunter in his ability to set a song simply, yet effectively, always evoking the purest of human emotions from both singers as well as listeners.
– Lesley Leighton/Robert Weibezahl

Holiday Presence

Welcome to Holiday Presence, Los Robles Master Chorale’s second concert of seasonal favorites.

The program opens with John Rutter’s (b.1945) Rejoice and Be Merry, arranged for choir, keyboard, and handbells. A traditional English carol taken from an old Church Gallery Book attributed to the Reverend J.L.T. Darwall, Rutter sets it in a very celebratory style, making it a joyous song of the season.

The three-movement Christmas Cantata (Sinfonia Sacra) was written by American composer Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) in 1957. Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Pinkham began to write music at age six. At Harvard, he studied with Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, and Walter Piston, among others, and later continued his studies with Wanda Landowski, Samuel Barber, and Nadia Boulanger. A prolific composer, Pinkham wrote some 676 compositions, including four symphonies, cantatas, oratorios, chamber music, electronic music, and film scores, but Christmas Cantata is arguably his most famous work. Using traditional Nativity texts in Latin, it is scored for mixed choir, double brass choir, and organ.

LRMC is honored to welcome composer Shawn Kirchner (b.1970) to tonight’s performance, where he is gracing us with his piano accompaniment on three of his own arrangements of Christmas carols, which celebrate the season he loves best. "I like Christmas because it’s the time of year when you get to do what I wish we could do year-round, and that’s fill our hearts and actions with joy, beauty and light," Kirchner says. "No one looks at you funny at Christmastime when you talk about and do such things. The music, the decorations, the generosity, and the sharing at Christmas are uplifting experiences. Joy, friendship, peace, and good will are magnified at Christmastime and no one thinks you’re strange for wanting these things for everyone." One Sweet Little Baby is an original gospel Christmas song by Wes Kinneson & Glenn McClure. Kirchner was commissioned to write this arrangement by the Juniata College Concert Choir.

Our guest vocalist, Kevin Koelbl, loves singing Christmas songs — it is a serious passion. When Lesley Leighton heard his Christmas CD, This is Christmastime, she thought it would be fun to feature him as a soloist, with the choir backing him up on some popular holiday tunes. Together, they chose some songs, then Leighton wrote arrangements using the musical elements she knew would be available at this concert — brass, piano, and percussion. "Both Kevin and I love I’ll Be Home for Christmas so it was a natural," says Leighton. "I wrote a fairly standard arrangement that I felt would highlight Kevin’s voice, and one that hearkens back to the golden age of choral music (the 1950s and 1960s), when you would often hear choirs backing up singers on albums — especially holiday ones! The arrangement is very straightforward with only a few 2nd and 6th chords lending a slightly jazzy sound in places."

This arrangement of The Christmas Song features a solo trumpet in addition to Kevin Koelbl’s solo line and the choir part. "With all of these arrangements," Leighton says, "I was really going for a kind of retro feel in one way or another. I’ll Be Home for Christmas is very ’50s, The Christmas Song is pretty ’60s in feel — although admittedly the wind chimes might be dragging in the ’70s! Since Kevin has a beautiful falsetto, I wrote a cue in the final measure that displays it, and which is also a nod to a ’60s recording of Silent Night that I remember hearing a lot while growing up."

The beloved British choral composer John Rutter was commissioned to write his Gloria by the Voices of Mel Olson, who first performed the work in May 1974 in Omaha, Nebraska, under the direction of the composer. This three-movement work sets the Latin text from the Ordinary of the Mass. Rutter’s setting is based mainly on one of the Gregorian chants associated with the text. The opening and closing movements, marked "Allegro vivace" and "Vivace e ritmico" respectively, are jubilant, the middle "Andante" movement is more introspective and devotional, as befits the text. The accompaniment is for brass ensemble, timpani, percussion, and organ. The Gloria remains one of Rutter’s most popular works. "Choirs love to sing this music," wroteBBC Music Magazine, "and audiences seldom fail to respond to it."

The Bells of St. Mary’s was made popular in the 1960s by Andy Williams on his first Christmas album, even though it is not strictly speaking a "Christmas" song. "It was one of my favorites growing up," Leighton says. "This arrangement features brass, timpani, tubular bells — and glockenspiel, which has a fairly prominent role, often playing a countermelody to Kevin’s melody, or sometimes simply adding an exclamation to something he sings. Much of the harmonic language of this arrangement pays homage to the version on Williams’s album — and it gives us a very satisfying ‘big’ finish!"

No celebration of this holy and festive season would be complete without Silent Night. The chorale performs Roger Wagner’s version from his The Christmas Story according to Saint Luke, composed and arranged by Wagner in 1963 for a television special starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991) and featuring the Roger Wagner Chorale.

William L. Dawson (1899-1990) was an African-American composer, choir director, and professor. He taught at the Tuskegee Institute from 1931 to 1956, where he developed the Tuskegee Institute Choir into an internationally renowned ensemble. Dawson dedicated this arrangement of the traditional, Mary Had a Baby, to Robert Shaw (1916-1999).

Shawn Kirchner returns to the keyboard for his arrangement of Who Am I, O Child of Wonder?, a contemporary carol with music by Michael J. Lewis and a text by Ryan Harrison and Kirchner.

"From the moment that we first talked about Kevin as a guest artist on this concert, I could hear him singing Merry Christmas, Darling," Leighton confesses. It was written by Richard Carpenter and Frank Pooler, who was the head of the choral department at CSULB through the ’60s into the ’80s, where both Richard and Karen Carpenter studied with him. Pooler wrote the very melancholy text one year when he was young and had to spend the holidays away from his girlfriend. Richard Carpenter set it years later for Karen to sing. "This arrangement stays pretty true to the Carpenters recording," Leighton says, "and features a very Carpenter-sounding choir, brass that often punctuates the solo line, timpani, and keyboard."

One of the most often heard Christmas carols, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!, was written by hymnist Charles Wesley in the 18th century. Robert Hunter (1929-2001) arranged the song as a commission celebrating 75 years of Jesuit higher education in Los Angeles, for Loyola Marymount University in 1988 at the request of its beloved Fr. Richard H. Trame, S.J., Ph.D. (1921-1998). The arrangement demonstrates clearly the virtuosity of Hunter in his ability to set a song simply, yet effectively, always evoking the purest of human emotions from both singers as well as listeners.
– Robert Weibezahl

Messengers of Spring

Welcome to Messengers of Spring, Los Robles Master Chorale’s annual joint concert with Los Robles Children’s Choir.

The performance begins with the Bel Canto Choir singing More Little Things That Creep and Crawl and Sometimes Fly, a choral cycle by David Peninger (1929-1991), which celebrates the creatures of the earth through texts by Aileen Fisher (1906-2002), Ralph Bergengren (1871-1947), Monica Shannon (1890-1965), Winifred Welles (1893-1939), and Victor Hugo (1802-1885).

The Amadeus Choir performs two Baroque selections. First is Cantate Domino, by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), one of the most significant composers of the period. This motet, with its text from Psalm 98, is found in the Ersten Musicalischen Lustgärtlein, composed in 1628. Originally written for soprano, alto and baritone, this version for treble choir was arranged by conductor, composer, voice teacher, and soloist Nancy Grundahl (b.1946).

Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten is a duet from Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) Cantata No. 78, Jesu der du meine Seele, written on a German text by Johann Rist (1607-1667). The English text was written by Henry S. Drinker.

All Things Bright and Beautiful is a venerable Anglican hymn. The text was written by the Anglo-Irish writer Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895). Some sources claim she wrote this poem while staying at the Govilon manor house and inspired by the Sugar Loaf and Blorenge mountains and the River Usk, while others suggest it was the Grabbist Hill at Dunster and the River Avill. The text is set to the 17th century English folk tune, Royal Oak, arranged here for treble voices by the popular British composer John Rutter (b.1945).

Sing Creations Music On is by American composer Stephen Paulus (b.1949), hailed as "a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift" (The New Yorker). His prolific output of more than 450 works includes music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard and opera. The text is taken from the poem Songs Eternity by English poet John Clare (1793-1864).
- Robert Weibezahl

êkō gives the world premiere performance of Jordan Nelson’s Even in the barn’s shade, a winner of last year’s Young Artist Choral Composer Competition.

"Even in the barn’s shade (2011) is a short piece for eight-part mixed choir. The work is a setting of a translation by David G. Lanoue of a Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) haiku. The text is a celebration of nature, as well as a statement of optimism. In setting Mr. Lanoue’s translation of Issa’s beautiful sentiment, I sought to capture a sense of reverence towards Mother Nature while supporting the emotions inherent in the piece’s lyrics."
- Jordan Nelson

Benedicite was inspired by the restored Benedicite carvings in the south transept vault of York Minster. The text is made up of a selection of verses from the Benedicite canticle in the Book of Common Prayer, freely arranged and expanded. The work was commissioned by the British Federation of Young Choirs for the 1989 Edinburgh Singing Day and first performed in Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on November 5, 1989, conducted by Philip Ledger. Benedicite is Latin for "All the world, praise the Lord." The English Prayer Book takes thirty-three verses to say so; I chose a few of the old verses and added a sprinkling of new verses to make the following eleven movements:
1. O all ye works of the Lord, praise ye the Lord
A dance of joy to the rhythm of trumpets and drums.
2. Green Things
In a lilting 5/4, the old verse is amplified to include plant forms like "herbs and heathers."
3. Sun and Moon
An attempt to capture in sound that sense of silence and eternity, not to say human insignificance, that we feel when looking up into the heavens on a starry night.
4. Badgers and Hedgehogs
In the first of three sections for the younger singers, some of the animals that Noah forgot to mention have a rumbustious time.
5. Ice and Snow
Whilst we sleep, nimble Jack Frost darts round the village with his icicle brush. We shiver in winter’s special beauty.
6. Whales and Waters is a drop in the ocean.
Our voices and instruments can only hint at the vast unknown. But in the middle, I transcribe into the strings the plaintive song of the majestic whale, captured on tape by the British Antarctic Survey.
7. Butterflies and Moths
The youngsters remind us and themselves that life is fragile and transient, wafted away on the breeze. So we enjoy and give thanks for a myriad of colorful moments.
8. Thunder and Lightning
Over a short repeating bass line, a storm threatens, and the frightening elemental powers give way to the calm waters of:
9. Spirits and Souls
In a brief reference to earlier music, we think of all those absolutely smashing people of our generation who are good to know, and of those of earlier times whose lives can serve as a model. Not least of course:
10. Grannies and Grandads
11. O let the earth bless the Lord
The world has come full circle, and the final hymn of praise recalls the opening fanfares.
- Andrew Carter

Celtic Tapestries

With Celtic Tapestries, êkō celebrates the musical traditions of the British Isles and Ireland.

Many of the arrangements being performed this evening are the work of Michael McGlynn (b.1964), founder of the acclaimed Irish vocal ensemble Anúna, whose name derives from the collective term for three ancient types of Irish music: Suantraí (lullaby), Geantraí (happy song) and Goltraí (lament). McGlynn and Anúna explore and redefine choral music from ancient times through to the present, as exemplified by the opening set.

Media Vita is often attributed to the tenth century Irish monk Notker the Stammerer, but this Latin antiphon was more likely written in France around 750. McGlynn's highly atmospheric arrangement retains a medieval quality.

The women of êkō sing Jerusalem, probably the best-known piece performed by Anúna. McGlynn's arrangement of a traditional Irish melody provides a wave of sound, punctuated by soloists. The text has been attributed to both St. Augustine (354-430) and the eighteenth century hymnist Joseph Bromehead (1748-1826).

Hinbarra is an original McGlynn composition with complex rhythms and strongly ethnic harmonies. The piece uses fragments of existing song texts to create a series of images associated with the lives of fisherman — a tribute to the many traditional songs of the West of Ireland that refer to the sea.

2013 marks the centenary of Benjamin Britten's (1913-1976) birth, and one of the centerpieces of tonight’s concert is the great British composer's Hymn to St. Cecilia, Op. 27, completed in 1942. Britten first met the poet W.H. Auden (1907-1973) in the 1930s and the two men began an artistic collaboration that would include a number of art songs and the operetta Paul Bunyan. Auden was in love with Britten, and some of his best verse from this period bears veiled messages of affection, although the love was not reciprocated to Auden's satisfaction. When Britten asked Auden to provide a text for an ode to St. Cecilia — the patron saint of musicians and church music (Britten was, in fact, born on St. Cecilia's Day, November 22nd, and the piece was first performed on his twenty-ninth birthday) — the poet wrote a three-section poem filled with ideas about celebrating the loss of innocence and the acceptance or denial of desires. Britten embraced this idea of celebration in the music, even as he continued to struggle personally with Auden's psychological power over him. The first section is based around the E Phrygian scale, the second section is a scherzo with a modified fugue form, and the third is a lyrical melody with solos in each voice part describing a different instrument. Each section ends with the same ode to St. Cecilia. Almost a casualty of war, Hymn to St. Cecilia was finished during a voyage home to England that Britten made in 1942, with the composer rewriting the manuscript for the first section from memory after U.S. Customs confiscated it, thinking it might be some type of code.

McGlynn's Invocation is another atmospheric piece. Its beautiful tenor solo evokes the world of the ancient poet Amergin Glungel. The text is, reputedly, at least 1200 years old.

The lovely English part-song Lay a Garland was written in 1840 by Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795-1856), setting a poem from the Jacobean play The Maid’s Tragedy, written c. 1608-1611 by Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625). In the original play, Aspasia sings the text when her betrothed is forced into a marriage of convenience to the king's mistress.

The men of êkō sing another Michael McGlynn original, Dúlamán. Due to the devastating erosion of the land, Irish farmers were forced to carry seaweed inland from the shores of the west coast of Ireland. It was allowed to rot and eventually used in planting potatoes. The text is extracted from a longer traditional text, which may have been sung while the seaweed was being gathered.

A Welsh Lullaby, based on the traditional Suo Gan and featured in the Steven Spielberg film, Empire of the Sun, was arranged here by American composer K. Lee Scott (b.1950).

August was composed by McGlynn using a text by Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917), an Irish poet who died on the battlefield at Ypres, France, during World War I. Ledwidge is sometimes called "the poet of the blackbirds," and it has been noted that beneath the gentle surface of his work runs a direct line to the ancient nature poets of Ireland.

Cúnnlais a short, fast piece, sung in Irish by the women of êkō. The text comes from a lullaby or baby tickling song, believed to have been written in the fourteenth century.

The traditional Scottish song Loch Lomond is most likely a tale about two of Bonnie Prince Charlie's men, captured and left behind in Carlisle after the failed rising of 1745. One is to be executed, while the other is set free. According to Celtic tradition, the condemned man's spirit would return to his homeland via the "low road" — his spirit will reach Scotland before his comrade gets home, but he will never meet his true love again. This arrangement, by Canadian composer and singer Jonathan Quick (b.1970), was done for Quick's ensemble, musica intima.

Celtic Tapestries comes to a spirited close with Fionnghuala, McGlynn's challenging setting of the famous piece of "mouth music."
- Robert Weibezahl

Enduring Spirits

Tonight's program begins with four motets by Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896), whose music is firmly rooted in the Catholic traditions that took hold during a childhood spent in provincial Austria. Perhaps due to his self-effacing personality and the fact that he long worked outside the musical mainstream, Bruckner did not produce his first mature work, the Mass in D minor, until he was forty years old. He served as organist at Linz Cathedral from 1856 to 1868, and later taught theory and organ at the Vienna Conservatory. A deeply devout Catholic throughout his life, he is buried in the crypt of St. Florian monastery church, where he first sang as a chorister at age 13, directly beneath his favorite organ. Bruckner was a strong adherent of the Caecilian movement, born amid the Romanticism of nineteenth century German-speaking Europe, and devoted to the reform of Catholic church music and the revival of medieval music.

Bruckner's seven-part setting of the Ave Maria was written in 1861, soon after he finished his study of harmony and counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory. The first section alternates the three-part women's choir and the four-part men's choir, which then unite in the proclamation of the name of Jesus. The second section features all seven voice parts in a canonical appeal to the Virgin to intervene for our sins. The gradual Locus iste is used in Mass services for the dedication of a church. Bruckner's three-section setting for four voice parts was written in 1869, to celebrate the dedication of the votive chapel of the cathedral at Linz. Os justi is a sacred motet completed in 1879, set to a traditional Latin liturgical text taken from Psalm 37:30-31. It is dedicated to Ignaz Traumihler, who was music director at St. Florian, and a fellow subscriber to the Caecilian movement. Bruckner created an extraordinary motet in the Lydian mode, which achieves striking harmonic effects without ever using a single sharp or flat note. It concludes with a plainchant Alleluja. The Christus factus est text comes from Philippians 2:8-9 and is a gradual used as part of the Mass services during Holy Week. This was Bruckner's third setting of this text, and was completed in 1884. It has been called the most symphonic of these four motets, and a prime example of the way that Bruckner gradually develops harmonic tension, building to memorable climaxes and then easing away. The four motets will be performed as a set so please hold your applause until after the final motet.

Regarding the next piece on the program, Lesley Leighton has written, "Marcos Leite's (b. 1953) remarkably interesting and entertaining Tres Cantos Nativos dos Indios Kraó, incorporates three separate songs. "Primeiro Canto" features rhythms, sounds and percussion that the composer envisioned as part of the Amazon rainforest, complete with animal calls supplied by the women of the chorale. The second song is actually the third, "Terceiro Canto," as we are taking the movements out of order, and it utilizes a unique sound arrived at by inhaling through closed teeth; and the final song, "Segundo Canto" has a rhythmic figure in the men's voices and a chant that fits above it for the women. The percussion throughout gives continuity to the work as a whole, and even though there is no translation for the Kraó chants, the sounds, rhythms and melodies allow the imagination to find an understanding in the textures created by the choir and percussion."

Abide with Me, one of the most beloved hymns of all time, was written by Henry F. Lyte (1793 - 1847) just weeks before his death, and was set to music by William H. Monk (1823 - 1889) in 1861. The prolific composer/arranger Moses Hogan (1957-2003) arranged it for the Oberlin College Choir in the late 1990s. An especially moving setting, Hogan captures the true beauty of both the melody and the words. Hogan's vigorous, percussive setting of the traditional spiritual The Battle of Jericho dates from 1996 and is a showcase for the remarkable compositional skills of this great choral arranger, who died tragically young of a brain tumor at age 45.

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) "is that rare thing, a modern composer who is both popular and original" (The Daily Telegraph, London). He received his MM in composition from Juilliard, where he studied with John Corigliano and David Diamond. Many of his works have already entered the standard choral and symphonic repertoires, and he has received composition awards from the Barlow International Composition Competition, the ACDA, and the American Composers Forum. In 2001, Whitacre became the youngest recipient ever awarded the coveted Raymond C. Brock commission by the ACDA, despite coming to classical music relatively late in life when he joined his college choir in Las Vegas.

When David Heard was written for the Brigham Young Singers and dedicated "with love and silence" to their conductor, Dr. Ronald Staheli, who had lost his 19-year-old son in a car accident two weeks after he and the Barlow Foundation commissioned a work from Whitacre. The composer chose this particular text after reading that Renaissance composers often set it for kings or patrons whose sons had died. Staheli conducted the premiere. Whitacre has written, "Ron had recorded my Water Music and his recording is, in my opinion, the quintessential performance of that piece. He seemed to find such powerful beauty in the rests, empty moments that became electric in his hands, so as I set out to write When David Heard, I decided that my first and most principal musical motive would be silence. The text, one single, devastating sentence, is from the King James Bible, II Samuel 18:33: When David heard that Absalom was slain he went up into his chamber over the gate and wept, my son, my son, O Absalom my son, would God I had died for thee! Setting this text was such a lonely experience, and even now just writing these words I am moved to tears. I wrote maybe 200 pages of sketches, trying to find the perfect balance between sound and silence, always simplifying, and by the time I finished a year later I was profoundly changed. Older, I think, and quieted a little. I still have a hard time listening to the recording."

The second half of the concert begins with the women of êkō, Los Robles Master Chorale's chamber choir, singing Jerusalem, probably the best-known piece performed by the contemporary Celtic music group Anúna. Michael McGlynn's (b. 1964) arrangement of a traditional Irish melody provides a wave of sound, punctuated by soloists. The text has been attributed to both St. Augustine (354 - 430) and the eighteenth century hymnist Joseph Bromehead (1748 - 1826).

The men of êkō sing a Michael McGlynn original, Dúlamán. Due to the devastating erosion of the land, Irish farmers were forced to carry seaweed inland from the shores of the west coast of Ireland. It was allowed to rot and eventually used in planting potatoes. The text is extracted from a longer traditional text, which may have been sung while the seaweed was being gathered.

2013 marks the centenary of Benjamin Britten's (1913 - 1976) birth, and one of the centerpieces of tonight's concert is the great British composer's Hymn to St. Cecilia, Op. 27, completed in 1942. Britten first met the poet W.H. Auden (1907 - 1973) in the 1930s and the two men began an artistic collaboration that would include a number of art songs and the operetta Paul Bunyan. Auden was in love with Britten, and some of his best verse from this period bears veiled messages of affection, although the love was not reciprocated to Auden's satisfaction. When Britten asked Auden to provide a text for an ode to St. Cecilia - the patron saint of musicians and church music (Britten was, in fact, born on St. Cecilia's Day, November 22nd, and the piece was first performed on his twenty-ninth birthday) - the poet wrote a three-section poem filled with ideas about celebrating the loss of innocence and the acceptance or denial of desires. Britten embraced this idea of celebration in the music, even as he continued to struggle personally with Auden's psychological power over him. The first section is based around the E Phrygian scale, the second section is a scherzo with a modified fugue form, and the third is a lyrical melody with solos in each voice part describing a different instrument. Each section ends with the same ode to St. Cecilia. Almost a casualty of war, Hymn to St. Cecilia was finished during a voyage home to England that Britten made in 1942, with the composer rewriting the manuscript for the first section from memory after U.S. Customs confiscated it, thinking it might be some type of code.

Les Yeux du Destin by Lesley Leighton is the second piece of a set of two songs she wrote while studying with Morten Lauridsen at USC. Leighton composed three poems for use as musical settings; this was the third poem written, but for the composition, only a small portion of the poem was used. The music was written with USC Choral Department Chair Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe in mind; it is a style that is among his favorite types of choral octavos to perform. The piece was composed with a linear structure and the harmonic language is decidedly early twentieth century French.

Kasar mie la gaji by Venezuelan composer Alberto Grau (b. 1937) was written in 1991 "for the international mobilization to save the earth and a conscientious effort regarding the problems of the environment." Its simple one-line text translates as "the earth is tired," and is taken from the inhabitants of the African Sahel - the southern boundary of the Sahara.

Auferstehung is from the final movement of the Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection" by Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911), written between 1888 and 1894 and first performed in 1895. It is his first major work to display what would eventually become his lifelong obsession with the afterlife. Mahler takes the text from Friederich Gottlieb Klopstock's (1724 - 1803) poem Die Auferstehung, which he heard at the funeral of his colleague, the conductor Hans von Bülow (1830 - 1894). "It struck me like lightning, this thing," he later wrote, "and everything was revealed to me clear and plain." Mahler used the first two verses of Klopstock's hymn, then added verses of his own that dealt more explicitly with redemption and resurrection. When the full symphony, which lasts about ninety minutes, is performed, the chorus comes in quietly just past the halfway point of the fifth and last movement. The section is organized primarily by the text, using musical material from earlier in the movement. Each of the first two verses is followed by an instrumental interlude; the alto and soprano solos, "O Glaube," based on the recitative melody, precede the fourth verse, sung by the chorus; and the fifth verse is a duet for the two soloists. The chorus picks up the words from the duet, "Mit Flügeln." Mahler wrote of this movement, "The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don't know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it."
- Robert Weibezahl

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