A S T R A C O N C E R T S 2 0 1 9 5 pm, Sunday 8 December GOOD SHEPHERD CHAPEL Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne HUMMING / SPOKEN Pauline Oliveros, Arnold Schoenberg, Milton Babbitt, Ruth Crawford, Kenneth Gaburo, Ernst Toch, John J. Becker, John Arthur Grant, Eve Duncan, Callum Mintzis, Jena Capes, Penelope Alexander, Peggy Glanville-Hicks The Astra Choir & Soloists vocal soloists Catrina Seiffert, Leonie Thomson, Susannah Provan, Louisa Billeter, Tim Drylie, Ben Owen, Nicholas Tolhurst, Steven Hodgson organ Kim Bastin The Astra Choir soprano Mo Doris, Catrina Seiffert, Irene McGinnigle, Alison Tokita, Leonie Thomson, Louisa Billeter, Jean Evans, Maree Macmillan, Susannah Provan, Kate Sadler, Kim Tan, alto Gloria Gamboz, Katie Richardson, Beverley Bencina, Jane Cousens, Joy Lee, Mardi McSullea, Joan Pollock tenor Tim Drylie, Ben Owen, Richard Webb, Greg Deakin, Dylan Nicholson bass Robert Franzke, Nicholas Tolhurst, John Mark Williams, Steven Hodgson, Chris Smith, John Terrell John McCaughey conductor This concert gathers some choral pieces from explorative American composers of the last century – largely overlooked then and now in the choral culture – together with new and recent works from composers in Melbourne. Combining the two geographies, the program concludes with the Australian-American, Peggy Glanville Hicks – the premiere performance of her three settings of Wallace Stevens poems, composed 64 years ago in New York. Since the earliest chant forms, choral singing has been poised between two poles of expression, both of great interest to modern composers: a meditative state of pure sonority – humming or melismas on single vowels – and a discursive state, of words projected in unique ways through collective utterance. The popular form of the musical Round (infinite canon at the unison) embodies both of these states. On the one hand, it is a kind of continuous hum of sound - a spiralling repetition of a tune overlaid with itself, its phrases passing between the voices but never advancing, never arriving. On the other hand, it is often an occasional piece with a specially created text, not designed for concert performance but for domestic diversion, or as a personal homage or greeting. Its history reaches from children's play-songs to the encoded canons of Bach's Musical Offering. Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), who died as an American citizen following his emigration in 1933, left a large collection of canons and rounds, a pastime on days when he was pausing on larger compositions. His Christmas round from 1939 was part of an exchange of musical gifts with the Los Angeles composer and writer Richard Drake Saunders. Milton Babbitt (1916–2010), often considered Schoenberg's most advanced successor in 12-tone music, also wrote many canons. His Round comes from his last month of life, aged 94, and is made entirely with the 7 white-notes of the C scale. It was one of 16 settings of presidential quotations by various composers, "Sing Out, Mr President", commissioned by the New York choral conductor Judith Clurman. An aphorism by the conservative James Madison was Babbitt's characteristic choice as text. Equally characteristically, Ruth Crawford (1901–53), 80 years earlier, chose a verse from the communist magazine New Masses for her round titled When, Not If. This is the sole survivor of five musical renditions of this text, resulting from an evening of canon-writing with her composer-husband Charles Seeger, reportedly with much laughter. [NOTES CONTINUED ON P.7...] 2 PROGRAM Pauline Oliveros Tuning Meditation 1971 Arnold Schoenberg Merry Christmas, Mr Saunders December 1939 canon for 4 voices, words by Schoenberg Milton Babbitt Round (Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates) 2010 round for 4-part choir, words by James Madison Ruth Crawford-Seeger When, not If 1933 round for 3 voices, verse by Fred Rolland from New Masses Kenneth Gaburo Humming 1954 4-part choir, without text Laetentur caeli (Let the heavens rejoice) 1957 Text, Psalm 95, Offertory for Christmas Ernst Toch Gesprochene Musik (Spoken Music) 1930 I. “O-a” II. “Ta-tam” III. “Fugue from Geography” speaking chorus, phonetic text by the composer Kenneth Gaburo Terra tremuit (The earth trembled) 1957 Text, Psalm 76, Offertory for Easter Sunday Psalm (In thee I put my trust) 1965 Text, Psalm 31 John J. Becker Morning Song 8-part double-chorus, poem adapted from Herbert P. Horne Ernst Toch Gesprochene Musik 1930 I. “O-a” II. “Ta-tam” III. “Geographical Fugue” accelerated phonograph version Kenneth Gaburo Two madrigals for SATB choir 1950 1. Snow 2. The Willow Poems by Walter de la Mare I N T E R V A L John Arthur Grant Du–ma–lo: Notes from the Borigove, No.3 2016 4-part choir, phonetic text by the composer Eve Duncan Yes, Promise the Clouds 2019 4-part choir, poem by David Malouf first performance Callum Mintzis Don't Lose Sight 2019 4-part choir without text first performance Jena Capes All Became Part 2018 4-part choir, poem by Walt Whitman Penelope Alexander The Blue Wrens and the Butcher Bird 1997 8-part choir & solo vocalists, poem by Judith Wright first performance Peggy Glanville-Hicks Three Madrigals 1955 1. The night is the colour of a woman's arm 2. Not all the knives of the lamp-posts 3. Rationalists! wearing square hats 4-part choir, poems by Wallace Stevens 1916 first performance 3 Pauline Oliveros, TUNING MEDITATION 1971 Arnold Schoenberg, MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR SAUNDERS 1939 4-part canon Mister Saunders, I owe you thanks for at least four years. Let me do it in four voices so that every one of them counts for one year. Merry Christmas four times, listen how they sing it! Also Merry Christmas to Mrs. Saunders. – Arnold Schoenberg, Los Angeles, 1939 Milton Babbitt, ROUND 2010 4-part canon Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob. – James Madison, 1788 Ruth Crawford, WHEN, NOT IF 1940 4-part canon Joy to the World, to live and see the day, When Rockefeller Senior shall up to me and say: “Comrade, comrade, can you spare a dime?” – Fred Rolland, from New Masses 1940 Kenneth Gaburo, HUMMING 1954 4-part choir, without text LAETENTUR CAELI 1957 4-part choir Laetentur caeli, et exsultet terra Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult ante faciem Domini: before the face of the Lord, quoniam venit. because he comes. – Psalm 95, Offertory for Christmas Ernst Toch, GESPROCHENE MUSIK (Spoken Music) 1930 I. “O-a” II. “Ta-tam” III. “Fugue from Geography” – phonetic texts by the composer Kenneth Gaburo, TERRA TREMUIT 1957 4-part choir Terra tremuit et quievit: The earth trembled, and was still: Dum resurgeret in judicio Deus. When God arose to judgement. Alleluia. Alleluia. – Psalm 76, Offertory for Easter Sunday PSALM 1965 4-part choir IN THEE I PUT MY TRUST, LET ME NEVER BE ASHAMED; DELIVER ME IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, O LORD. – Psalm 31 4 John J. Becker, MORNING SONG ca.1935 (?) 8-part double-chorus Wake! What unusual light doth greet the early dusk of this our street? It is the Lord! it is the Christ! That, ere the day is born anew, Himself a child is born for you. Praise the Lord! O praise the Lord! Praise O praise! Praise O praise be to God! The harp, the viol, and the flute, To strike a praise unto our God. Then wake, my heart and sweep the strings, The seven in the Lyre of Life! it is the Christ! it is the King! The Newborn King! He is the Christ, Born in a manger. He is the Lord, To all a stranger In the inn no room is left Of all welcomes is he bereft. Now atone and give him praise. – adapted from Herbert P. Horne, Diversi Colores 1891 Ernst Toch, GESPROCHENE MUSIK 1930 - accelerated phonographic version I. “O-a” II. “Ta-tam” III. “Fugue from Geography” Kenneth Gaburo, TWO MADRIGALS 1950 mixed choir I. SNOW No breath of wind, No gleam of sun – II. THE WILLOW Still the white snow Leans now the fair willow, dreaming Whirls softly down In the driving snow she was parched and cold, Twig and bough And in midnight hath been And blade and thorn Swept by blasts of the void night, All in an icy Lashed by the rains. Quiet, forlorn. Now of that wintry dark and bleak Whispering, rustling, No memory remains. Through the air On sill and stone, In mute desire she sways softly; Roof, - everywhere, Thrilling sap up-flows; It heaps its powdery She praises God in her beauty and grace, Crystal flakes, Whispers delight. And there flows Of every tree A delicate wind from the Southern seas, A mountain makes; Kissing her leaves. She sighs. ‘Til pale and faint While the birds in her tresses make merry; At shut of day Burns the Sun in the skies. Stoops from the West One wint’ry ray, – Walter de la Mare, 1921 And, feathered in fire Where ghosts the moon, A robin shrills His lonely tune. – Walter de la Mare, 1913 I N T E R V A L 5 John Arthur Grant, DU–MA–LO: Notes from the Borigove, No.3 2016 4-part choir – phonetic text by the composer Eve Duncan, YES, PROMISE THE CLOUDS 2019 4-part choir first performance Yes, promise the clouds like ragged children, we are willing to come in we are willing to come out to the game, willing to play, and willing to abide and yes, say the others, by the rules, slowly turning, swan, teaspoon, bone, lion, sword, stone, turning in a circle or the three magic bullets. in the charmed field, to be But what will you give, as you wish, sunflower, tractor, child sitting alone on a doorstep and solemnly weeping, to have us walk in out of the rainy afternoon and join you? Will you give us breath? Will you call us by our real names? Will you tell us, in a whisper, your own? – David Malouf Callum Mintzis, DON'T LOSE SIGHT 2019 4-part choir first performance without text Jena Capes, ALL BECAME PART 2018 4-part choir There was a child went forth every day, And the first object he received with wonder or pity or love, that object he became, The early lilacs became part of this child, And white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird, And the March-born lambs, and the sow’s pink-faint litter, and the mare’s foal, and the cow’s calf, and the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-side..