SAMUEL BARBER Evening During Term in the College Chapel and Presents an Annual Concert Series

Home , Agnus Dei (Barber), Essay for Orchestra, Hermit Songs, Vanessa (opera)

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Choir of Ormond College, University of Melbourne Deborah Kayser Deborah Kayser performs in areas as diverse as ancient Byzantine chant, French and German Baroque song and In June and July of 2005 the Choir of Ormond College gave its eleventh international concert tour, visiting classical contemporary music, both scored and improvised. Her work has led her to tour regularly both within AMERICAN CLASSICS Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Italy. Other tours have included New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and internationally to Europe and Asia. She has recorded, as soloist, on numerous CDs, and her work is Holland, England, Scotland, Switzerland and Belgium. These tours have received outspoken praise from the public frequently broadcast on ABC FM. As a member of Jouissance, and the contemporary music ensembles Elision and and critics alike. The choir was formed by its Director; Douglas Lawrence, Master of the Chapel Music, in 1982. Libra, she has performed radical interpretations of Byzantine and Medieval chant, and given premières of works There are 24 Choral Scholars: ten sopranos, four altos, four tenors, and six basses. The choir sings each Sunday written specifically for her voice by local and overseas composers. Her performance highlights include works by SAMUEL BARBER evening during term in the College chapel and presents an annual concert series. Each year a number of outside composers Liza Lim, Richard Barrett and Chris Dench, her collaboration with bassist Nick Tsiavos, and oratorio and engagements are undertaken. These have included concerts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Musica choral works with Douglas Lawrence. She was a member of the Choir of Ormond College for eight years from 1984, Viva, the Melbourne International Festival, the Melbourne Concert Hall, the Faculty of Music at Melbourne and has been the Principal Soprano of the Scot’s church since 1991. Choral Music University, Monash University, the Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord, the Ballarat Opera Festival, the Fremantle Bach Festival, the Mildura Arts Festival and the Port Fairy Festival. In Europe Festival Grantley McDonald engagements have included the Wiener Festwochen, the Vendsyssel Festival, the Copenhagen Summer Festival, the Grantley McDonald was born in Melbourne in 1974, and received his first choral experience as a boy at St Paul’s Heaven-haven • Sure on this shining night • Agnus Dei Accademia Chigiana, the Sorø Festival, the Arolsen Barock Festspiele, the Dunkeld Festival, the Bonn cathedral. He later sang in a number of college choirs at the University of Melbourne, including the Choir of Ormond Sommerkonzerte, the Festival de L’Orgue Ancien-Sion. The choir’s repertoire is wide, ranging from the College, under the direction of Douglas Lawrence. He has performed in many countries (Australia, Japan, Germany, Choir of Ormond College • Douglas Lawrence Renaissance to the Baroque, with special attention given to the music of J.S. Bach, and with music of the nineteenth Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, France, Britain) as an ensemble singer, soloist and conductor. He attended and twentieth centuries, as well as contemporary compositions. The Choir of Ormond College has given over forty university in Melbourne and Berlin, and in 1997 studied ensemble singing under the instruction of the Hilliard premières. The choir has a strong commitment to early performance practice and gave the first authentic Melbourne Ensemble in the England. His repertoire ranges from chant and medieval polyphony, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and performances along with the Australian Baroque Ensemble of, amongst other works, Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn to recently commissioned works. He maintains a steady research programme in Renaissance music, Coronation Anthems and Bach’s St John Passion, St Matthew Passion (with the Choir of Trinity College), Mass in and in 2002 was awarded his PhD on the musical aesthetics of the fifteenth-century philosopher Marsilio Ficino. He B Minor, the Magnificat and several cantatas. was for some years choir-master at Queen’s College, University of Melbourne, and is currently director of music at St Peter’s, Melbourne. Len Vorster Len Vorster left South Africa for Australia in 1983 after completing post-graduate piano studies with Lamar Crowson at the University of Cape Town. He made his concerto début with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra in 1976. In 1997 he recorded Michael Easton’s Concerto on Australian Themes with the State Orchestra of Victoria for Naxos, and gave the premières of the work in Italy, Hungary, Germany, and London. His Naxos recording of the two-piano version of Holst’s The Planets (with Robert Chamberlain) has received a Gramophone Magazine Award. Further Naxos recordings include music by de Falla, Stravinsky and Berkeley. He has recorded with Ian Partridge the complete songs and solo piano music of Lord Berners for Marco Polo. Len Vorster is founding Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, and is on the piano staff at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts. Ben Dickson Ben Dickson is a graduate of Australia’s premier performing arts institution, The Victorian College of the Arts. After several years working around Australia with many orchestras and ensembles he moved to Thailand, where he is now Principal Percussionist with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.

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Samuel Barber (1910–1981) Samuel Barber (1910–1981) Italy in 1936. It was subsequently reworked and From the same period come Heaven-haven and Sure Choral Music Choral Music renamed in 1938 Adagio for Strings and, in 1967, was on this shining night, that both began life originally as further transformed into a divided a cappella chorus to songs and were later arranged for chorus, in 1961 and 1 A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map, Op. 15 5:25 0 The Virgin Martyrs, Op. 8, No. 1 3:39 Born in March 1910 at West Chester, Pennsylvania, Stephens, and from them developed an inclination the words from the Latin Mass. Its stepwise movement, 1941 respectively. The first is a chordal setting of words Text: Stephen Spender (1909-1995) Text: Helen Waddell (1889-1965) Samuel Barber grew up with parents who encouraged an towards Celtic texts with a melancholic and nostalgic long-limbed lyricism and elegiac mood have justifiably by Gerard Manley Hopkins concerning a young nun (male chorus, three kettle drums) (a cappella female chorus) all-round education, an uncle who was a composer theme, which aptly matched his own musically romantic earned the work its extraordinary popularity. wishing to relinquish the outside world and asking for a 2 Under the Willow Tree (from Vanessa) 3:23 ! Let Down the Bars, O Death, Op. 8, No. 2 1:53 (exclusively of songs) and an aunt who was a celebrated persuasion. Forced to leave Europe in 1939, Barber returned to trouble-free environment away from ‘the swing of the Text: Gian Carlo Menotti (b. 1911) Text: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) contralto of international fame. Their occasional A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map is a disturbing the Curtis Institute where he ran a Madrigal Chorus. It sea’. The second, now with a piano, recreates James (a cappella mixed chorus, tenor solo, piano) (a cappella mixed chorus) presence in the Barber household was to be the most setting of a poem by Stephen Spender describing the was for this vocal ensemble that he conceived Agee’s affirmative text in a canon between soprano and important early influence on the young boy who death of a soldier in the Spanish Civil War, during which Reincarnations, a trio of Celtic part-songs to words by tenor voices, where gentle dissonances and a sweeping 3 Twelfth Night, Op. 42, No. 1 4:32 @ Heaven-haven, Op. 13, No. 1 1:43 announced at the age of nine that he intended to be a the poet had spent time in Spain. It is scored for four- James Stephens. The exuberant and polyphonic Mary melodic line over a pulsating chordal accompaniment Text: Laurie Lee (1914-1997) Text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) composer. At fourteen Barber entered the newly part male chorus with three kettledrums, adding optional Hynes, actually written in 1936, contrasts initial creates one of Barber’s most poetic settings. (a cappella mixed chorus) (a cappella mixed chorus) founded Curtis Institute in Philadelphia that opened for brass parts after its publication, and was written in 1940. rhythmic vigour with tender lyricism. Anthony O’Daly is The Easter Chorale was written for the dedication 4 To be sung on the Water, Op. 42, No. 2 2:48 # Sure on this shining night, Op. 13, No. 3 2:03 the first time in 1924 (he was in fact only the second The unsettling silences, timpani glissandi and haunting based on a true Irish rebel tale in which a captain is of the bell-tower of Washington’s National Cathedral in Text: Louise Bogan (1897-1970) Text: James Agee (1909-1933) student to go there). Revered by his fellow students final bars all contribute to the grim reality expressed in condemned to death and dies without betraying his 1964 and sets Pack Browning’s creation text in the style (a cappella mixed chorus) (mixed chorus, piano) (including Menotti), he became the star pupil excelling the text. Its structure is in the form of a double refrain friends. Throughout this atmospheric lament a tolling of a hymn-tune, chordal throughout, modal and with 5 The Monk and his Cat 2:13 $ Chorale for Ascension Day (Easter Chorale) 3:02 in all subjects and developing too a fine baritone voice. where each verse begins with the words ‘A Stopwatch bell-like figure underpins the other voices. In The unyielding crotchet movement. (from Hermit Songs, Op. 29, No. 8) Text: Pack Browning Indeed, such was the quality of his singing that he and an Ordnance Map’ ending with a second refrain ‘all Coolin, the last of the group, a gentle siciliano-like Two years later Barber’s operatic venture Antony Text: 8th / 9th century translated by (a cappella mixed chorus) considered a career as a soloist, giving recitals and under the olive trees’. rhythm supports the undulating vocal lines of this and Cleopatra was to prove to be a disappointing recording his own Dover Beach for the NBC Network. Under the Willow Tree, is taken from Barber’s opera delicate love-poem. failure, musically compromised by Zeffirelli’s glitzy W.H. Auden (1907-1973) Two choruses from Antony and 6:02 Barber achieved orchestral success with his The Vanessa (1956-7) to a text by Gian Carlo Menotti. The Virgin Martyrs is a setting of a medieval Latin production. Two choruses, however, have secured some (mixed chorus, piano) Cleopatra, Op. 40 School for Scandal and Essay for Orchestra, showing a Writing for solo tenor and four-part chorus this is a text, translated by Helen Waddell, for four-part admiration and are both in an advanced harmonic idiom 6 Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings, Op. 11) 5:55 Text: after William Shakespeare (1564-1616) creative personality inclined towards the nineteenth- felicitous partnership of words and music, a carefree unaccompanied female voices. Beginning with just that make considerable demands on the chorus. On the Text: Biblical % On the death of Anthony 3:11 century European tradition, identifying him early in his waltz lending piquancy to the cooing of two doves in ‘pure’ white notes, its paired imitative entrances and Death of Antony (from Act IV of Shakespeare’s tragedy) (mixed chorus, piano) (female chorus, soprano solo, piano) career as an unabashed Romantic. In the 1930s he love. shared vocal character suggest study of renaissance is for women’s voices, with a text adapted by the Reincarnations, Op. 16 9:47 ^ On the death of Cleopatra 2:51 earned praise for being one of the most talented From December 1968 comes the dark, but beautiful polyphony. It was written during the spring of 1935 composer, and On the death of Cleopatra, now for Text: James Stephens (1882-1950) (mixed chorus, piano) composers of his age and scorn by modernists who Twelfth Night to words by Laurie Lee. Written for a when Barber was staying in a small house owned by his mixed voices who bid farewell to their poisoned Queen. (a cappella mixed chorus) & God’s Grandeur 7:44 considered his style utterly anachronistic. It was this cappella chorus with occasional divisions its astringent aunt at Pocono Lake Preserve in Pennsylvania. One of Barber’s most extended, ambitious and 7 No. 1 Mary Hynes 2:44 Text: Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) romantic idiom, however, that won for him numerous harmonies and bare fourths and fifths mirror the austere The following summer, when Barber and his friend advanced unaccompanied settings is his impressive 8 No. 2 Anthony O’Daly 3:49 (two a cappella mixed choruses) prizes including the Pulitzer (twice) and the Prix de tone of the five verses. The same winter Barber set Menotti were staying at an idyllic mountain location eight-part God’s Grandeur, a sonnet by Gerard Manley 9 No. 3 The Coolin 3:13 Rome and in 1937 he was the first American composer words by Louise Bogan for To be sung on the water in near Salzburg, he wrote Let Down the Bars, O Death, Hopkins written in 1938 for the Westminster Choir to be represented at the prestigious Salzburg Festival which he creates a serene lullaby, where pairs of where expressive discords within a strictly chordal School’s Festival of contemporary American music. with his Symphony in One Movement. antiphonal voices and a three-note melodic figure pulse texture and abrupt minor/major shifts frame tender, Although initially not published this is undoubtedly one Any brief glance, however, at Barber’s collected in a gentle lapping motion. ambivalent words by Emily Dickinson. He commented of his finest choral scores. works shows a distinct bias towards music with words, The Monk and his Cat portrays a philosophical in a letter to his parents, ‘I wrote a little chorus the other Deborah Kayser, Soprano • Grantley McDonald, Tenor and setting texts for chorus or solo songs occupied the scholar and his pet, that cohabit in mutual harmony, morning, quite good, it will be all right for someone’s Choir of Ormond College, University of Melbourne composer throughout his creative life. Between his early their peaceful existence bound by lilting rhythms and a funeral’. Michael Easton Matthew Arnold-inspired Dover Beach of 1933 and his piano part over which the cat appears to crawl. Based on Len Vorster, Piano • Ben Dickson, Timpani large-scale choral work The Lovers of 1971, setting early Irish texts and arranged by W.H. Auden, this song Douglas Lawrence words by the Chilean Pablo Neruda, Barber belongs originally to Barber’s Op. 29 Hermit Songs and demonstrates extraordinarily wide literary interests. In was transcribed for chorus in 1967. We regret that we are unable to reprint the sung texts particular he sought out English and Irish writers, The familiar Agnus Dei was originally the slow notably James Joyce and the Anglo-Irish James movement of Barber’s early string quartet written in 8.559053 2 3 8.559053 4 8.559053 559053bk Barber 15/6/06 9:51 pm Page 2

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CMYK NAXOS Playing Samuel Time: BARBER 60:09 (1910–1981) 8.559053 Made inCanada broadcasting andcopying ofthiscompact discprohibited. translations reserved.Unauthorised public performance, All rights inthissound recording,artwork, textsand 1 A Stopwatch and an 5:25 AMERICAN CLASSICS & Ordnance Map, Op. 15

2006 Naxos RightsInternational Ltd. 2 Under the Willow Tree (from Vanessa) 3:23 Setting texts for chorus or solo songs 3 Twelfth Night, Op. 42, No. 1 4:32 occupied Samuel Barber throughout 4 To be sung on the water, Op. 42, No. 2 2:48 his creative life. In particular he sought out English and Irish writers, many of 5 The Monk and his Cat 2:13 whose melancholic and nostalgic texts

(from Hermit Songs, Op. 29, No. 8) BARBER: ChoralMusic aptly matched his own musically 6 Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings, Op. 11) 5:55 romantic persuasion. A Stopwatch and 7-9 Reincarnations, Op. 16 9:47 an Ordnance Map is a disturbing 0 The Virgin Martyrs, Op. 8, No. 1 3:39 setting of a poem by Stephen Spender ! Let Down the Bars, 1:53 describing the death of a soldier in the O Death, Op. 8, No. 2 Spanish Civil War, during which the @ Heaven-haven, Op. 13, No. 1 1:43 poet had spent time in Spain. The # Sure on this shining night, 2:03 elegiac and now extraordinarily Op. 13, No. 3 popular Adagio for Strings is heard in $ Chorale for Ascension Day 3:02 the composer’s own choral version, (Easter Chorale) Agnus Dei, to words from the Latin %-^ Two choruses from Antony 6:02 Mass. God’s Grandeur is one of and Cleopatra, Op. 40 Barber’s most ambitious and BARBER: Choral Music Choral BARBER: & God’s Grandeur 7:44 advanced unaccompanied settings. DDD Choir of Ormond College, University of Melbourne C LASSICAL Douglas Lawrence P ALETTE Recordedin Ormond College Chapel in August 2000. 8.559053 Producer: Michael Atkinson • Engineer: Jim Atkins www.naxos.com Executive Producer: Michael Easton 8.559053 Editor: Thomas Grubb • Publisher: G. Schirmer Inc. Booklet Notes: Michael Easton • Please see the booklet for a detailed track and artist list • Cover Photograph: Moonlight over Water by Bruce Heinemann (Photodisc Green / Getty Images) • American flag, folk artist, 1880s. NAXOS