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.

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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

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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

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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... and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there... These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes and will always go forth.

– adapted from Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass 1855

Penelope Alexander, THE BLUE WRENS AND THE BUTCHER BIRD 1997 8-part choir & solo vocalists, poem by Judith Wright first performance

Still and still the blue wren sits beside his cowering hen. There they wait like stone by stone until the butcher-bird is gone. Then soft and sweet the blue wren twitters to his anxious hen, "Trust to me, oh trust to me: I know another blackthorn-tree."

– Judith Wright

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Peggy Glanville-Hicks, THREE MADRIGALS 1955 4-part choir first performance

I. 'MADRIGAL NO.2'

The night is the colour Of a woman's arm: II. 'MADRIGAL NO.5' Night, the female, Obscure, Not all the knives of the lamp-posts, Fragrant and supple, Nor the chisels of the long streets, Conceals herself. Nor the mallets of the domes III. 'MADRIGAL NO.6' A pool shines, And high towers, Like a bracelet Can carve Rationalists, wearing square hats, Shaken in a dance. What one star can carve Think, in square rooms, Shining through the grape-leaves. Looking at the floor, Looking at the ceiling. They confine themselves To right-angled triangles. If they tried rhomboids, Cones, waving lines, ellipses... Rationalists would wear sombreros.

– Wallace Stevens. from Six Significant Landscapes. 1916

[... NOTES CONTINUED from P.2 ]

With some exceptions, choral writing of the earlier 20th century remained a conservative metier, in contrast with the revolutions in instrumental music. From the 1950s onwards, there is an explosion of interest in radical approaches to choral sound, taking different directions in various countries. Kenneth Gaburo (1926-93) like his colleague at U.C. San Diego, Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016), developed his own performance group as a vehicle for investigation of his ideas. His New Music Choral Ensemble, founded in 1965, researched his twin interests in voice and language towards the notion of 'compositional linguistics' – in the words of Warren Burt, "treating music as language and language as music". The Ensemble gradually broadened the whole notion of "choral" with the inclusion of dancers, actors, acrobats and other performance artists, with associated explorations of electronics. Gaburo also directed a concert of the Astra Choir during his Melbourne visit in 1987.

Gaburo's earlier pieces in this concert have remained largely unknown, but point the way to his later linguistics and electronics. The two Latin liturgical settings of 1957 seem to have no choir in mind – highly condensed creations in the tiniest time-frame, which combine post-Webern textures of 12 notes with a forceful presence of the words and their phonemes. The English-language Psalm from 1965 was commissioned for the Pittsburgh convention of the American Guild of Organists. It goes a step further by isolating each word as a musical event between voices, again in a volatile 12-tone fabric with rapid dynamic shifts. Faced with such performance difficulties, a kind of counterpoint emerges between the frailties of the singers and the psalm's text of trust and assurance.

From earlier still, Gaburo's two Madrigals of 1950 followed his graduation from the Eastman School. Musical textures multiply in original ways out of Walter de la Mare’s poems. Four years later his wordless chorus Humming was a product of his year of study in Rome with Petrassi, composed in a single day at a time of physical hardship in the winter, having noted a day earlier in his diary that composition was impossible. The humming moves between a fluid contrapuntal web and more static moments, hovering almost like a gentle whine on two alternating chords.

The idea of "spoken chorus" was introduced earlier in the century, in oratorios of Schoenberg and Milhaud. Ernst Toch (1887–1964), who like Schoenberg was a Viennese refugee to the USA in 1933, took the genre two stages further in his 3–movement choral suite Gesprochene Musik (Spoken Music), first performed in Berlin in 1930. Toch's approach places choral music in the realm of nonsense literature, pioneered in the19th century by Lewis Carroll and others. The choir "speaks" invented words and syllables, much in the assertive spirit of solo performers of the time such as Kurt Schwitters and the DADA artists. What is more, the Berlin concert of 1930 was not a presentation with live choir, but as "gramophone 7

music", in a program of Toch and Hindemith. This was the earliest formation of electronic music, where the recorded choir was played back at increased speed, an entirely novel sound to the ears of the time. Toch's program notes speak of creating "a type of instrumental music, which leads the listener to forget that it originated from speaking." In the audience in 1930 was John Cage, who persuaded Henry Cowell to publish the suite's 3rd movement "Fugue from Geography", following Toch's arrival in California in 1933. The Fugue became very widely performed, but the other two movements were presumed lost. In 2006, the composer and choreographer Christopher Caines traced and reconstructed the original manuscript in the Toch archive at U.C.L.A., and performed it with a choreography of his dance company in New York.

From the same older generation, John J. Becker (1886–1961) was a friend of Charles Ives, and one of the ‘American Five’ of early modernism – with Ives, Ruggles, Cowell and Wallingford Riegger – although his music has remained the least known. Contrasting Ives’s New England Protestantism, Becker was a Midwest Catholic, which underlies the chant-like chromatic modality of his double-chorus Morning Song. The piece opens with the very sound most avoided by other modernists: the "Tristan-chord" exactly as it appears at the opening of Wagner's opera. Becker proceeds to disperse its late-Romantic aura, rediscovering it with repetitions and fresh harmonic surroundings.

* * * * * The six composers of the second half represent a wide generational span in Australian music, with four first-performances included. Two pieces follow the textless tradition of choral sound, in the case of John Arthur Grant's Notes from the Borigove taking inspiration from Lewis Carroll, with invented phonetic material moulded by harmonic changes. Callum Mintzis is active as jazz trombonist as well as composer, and a student at Monash University. His Don't Lose Sight maintains one phonetic colour throughout - also holding on, as the title suggests, to the character of the opening phrase through widening harmonic and rhythmic changes. The settings of Eve Duncan and Penelope Alexander both grew from personal contact with the respective poets. Eve Duncan has composed an opera on a libretto of David Malouf, and here captures the children's-game character of his short poem. Penelope Alexander's setting of Judith Wright's final stanza is part of a longer cantata on the poem "The Blue Wrens and the Butcher-Bird" and becomes a haiku-like moment of suspense. She subsequently wrote a choral piece entirely on the sounds of Australian birds. The Whitman setting by Jena Capes is another link to American imagery, a response to the exultant multiplicity of plants and animals, which a child not only encounters, but “becomes”.

Originally from Melbourne, Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912–90) became a US citizen and international figure as critic on the New York Herald Tribune through the 1950s and music director at the Museum of Modern Art. She later lived in Greece for many years, before returning to Sydney at the end of her life. From her archive at the NSW Mitchell Library, the manuscript of three madrigals of 1954 emerged, perhaps composed for her own interest and not previously listed or performed. The poems are from an early cycle by Wallace Stevens, titled "Six Significant Landscapes" and have distinct styles, which the musical settings respond to with deft and differing characters. Glanville-Hicks numbered the pieces according to their place in the poetic cycle, suggesting she may have also set the remaining three. The manuscript was made available by Dr Suzanne Robinson, Melbourne-based scholar and author of a new biographical study of the composer, from the University of Illinois Press. – JMcC

Concert Manager: Margaret Lloyd Astra Manager: Gabrielle Baker Sound processing and recording Engineer: Michael Hewes Front of House: Rose Kirby

Thanks to: Amanda Olle, and Sisters of the Good Shepherd Chapel; Warren Burt, Dr Suzanne Robinson, Allan Walker.

Astra Concerts receive support in 2019 from: Private donors; Creative Victoria; The Robert Salzer Foundation; The William Angliss Trust; Diana Gibson.

 ASTRA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY President: Dr.Joel Crotty Manager: Gabrielle Baker Musical Director: John McCaughey PO Box 365, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia ABN 41 255 197 577 Tel: +61 (3) 9326 5424 email: [email protected] web: www.astramusic.org.au 8