SINGERS

Twenty-five years of subscription concerts, tour Expanding their audience at home are performances and festival appearances, radio broadcasts and critically of major choral symphonic works by the larger Warland acclaimed recordings have given the Dale Warland Symphonic Chorus in collaboration with renowned Singers recognition as one of the world's foremost orchestras and such artists as Edo de Waart, Robert a cappella choral ensembles. Shaw, David Zinman and Roger Norrington. The Singers' most recent release is titled Blue Wheat. A collection of American folk music, the Seattle Times calls it "the loveliest choral disc to emerge in a long time ... sung by what is probably Americas best chorus." Also among the Singers' acclaimed recordings is December Stillness, which BBC Music Magazine gave its highest rating for performance and sound, and called "... splendid, melting stuff' and which the Seattle Times placed at the top of its list of best holiday releases. The Singers' 1994 release, Cathedral Classics, drew high praise when the Seattle Times called it "... one of the most astonishingly beautiful CDs," South Jersey's Courier-Post called it "an unmatched musical experience," and The Oregonian caIled it "peer- Based in /Saint Paul, the Dale less." Earlier recordings by the Singers include [ancie, Warland Singers have earned a reputation for their A Rose in Winter, Christmas Echoes and Carols For commitment to commissioning and performing Christmas as well as Americana: A Bit of Folk, Choral zoth century choral music. This pioneering effort fosters Currents, and 12 others. a greater awareness and appreciation of contemporary choral literature and helps develop emerging and established composers, especially American composers. The Singers keep the choral genre fresh and alive with new musical ideas by commissioning such composers as , , Carol Barnett, Brent Michael Davids, Mary Ellen Childs, Anthony Davis, Edwin London, George Shearing, Peter Schickele and Bernard Rands, among others. The ' New Choral Music Program commis- sions works from emerging composers, and through this program commissions have been awarded to nine talented musicians, with a tenth to be awarded in 1997· In 1992, the Dale Warland Singers became the first-ever recipient of the Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence. Their extraordinary efforts on behalf of composers and new music also resulted in ASCAP Awards for Adventuresome Programming in 1992, 1993 and 1996. In addition to performances in the Twin Cities, the Dale Warland Singers tour throughout the United States and have concertized abroad. In 1990, the ensemble traveled to Stockholm and Helsinki to repre- sent North America at the Second World Symposiurn on Choral Music. The group has been heard on Garrison Keillor's original A Prairie Home Companion and has regularly been featured on Public Radio International's Saint Paul Sunday. The annual Echoes of Christmas holiday broadcast reaches millions of listeners nationwide.

-2- DALE WARLAND MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR

The 1996-97 concert season marks internationally-renowned conductor Dale Warland's twenty-fifth season as Music Director of the Dale Warland Singers. Warland has devoted his professional life to attaining the highest artis- tic level in choral singing. Consummate musicianship and attention to detail have been his tools in building one of the finest choral ensembles in the United States. Under Warland's leadership, the ensemble has thrilled choral music lovers, not just in its Twin Cities home, but throughout North America and Europe. In 1995 Dale Warland joined the ranks of such choral luminaries as , Dominick Argento, Roger Wagner and Margaret Hillis as the recipient of the prestigious Michael Korn Founder's Award. The award, which ranks as the "Grammy" of choral music in the United States, was given to him at the 1995annual Chorus America Conference. Beyond his active schedule as Music Director of the Dale Warland Singers, Warland is in demand as a guest conductor, lecturer and composer. He has conducted such prestigious orga- nizations as the Swedish Radio Choir, the Danish Radio Choir, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Israel's Cameran Singers. He has prepared major choruses around the world for performances, including Penderecki's Polish Requiem in 1990 - the culminating event of the Second World Symposium on Choral Music in Finland. Warland is an active composer and a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) . He has served as co-chair of the choral and recording panels of the National Endowment for the Arts and has received major grants from the Ford Foundation, the Bush Foundation and the State Arts Board. Before devoting himself full time to the Singers, Dr. Warland maintained a demanding academic career which included 19 years as Director of Choral Music at , St. Paul. He holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the and the University of Southern California, and has received two distinguished alumni awards as well as an honorary doctorate from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

JERRY RUBINO ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

Jerry Rubino has contributed many of his talents to the Dale Warland Singers during his 19-year relationship with the ensemble. His past and present efforts include singer, pianist and arranger for the Dale Warland Singers, Music Director for the Warland Cabaret Singers, and Music Coordinator of the Singers' education programs. Recently, he was appointed Associate Conductor. Rubino is a versatile musician, giving solo and chamber performances; serving as organist and choir director of Golden Valley United Methodist church; and appearing with the Twin Cities-basedNew Music Theater Ensemble and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He frequently serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator. Rubino began his professional studies as a cellist at the Curtis Institute of Music and went on to earn degrees in piano, music education and conducting from Temple University and the University of Minnesota. A published arranger with Jenson, Word and Hinshaw, he was named in International Who's Who in 1995.

-3- vf;;~ /i~-d(U)/e-

SATURDAY,OCTOBER 26, 1996, 7:00 P.M. TED MANN CONCERT HALL, MINNEAPOLIS

The Dale Warland Singers created these Kaleidoscope concerts last season as a way to explore and celebrate America's musical heritage. The metaphor of the kaleidoscope is perfect: bits of colored glass - or, in our case, choral scores - set one against anotherto form a vibrant picture of who we are asa nation, each color necessary to make year we give the kaleidoscope a spin lens to view a few chips of Welcome to our North American

I CANADIAN FOLK MUSIC Si j'avais le bateau (Newfoundland) Harry Somers Salish Song (Southern British Columbia) Derek Healey Feller from Fortune (Newfoundland) Harry Somers

II WORLD PREMIERE Walden Pond (World Premiere) Dominick Argento (b. 1927) Nocturnes and Barcaroles for Mixed Chorus, Three Violoncellos and Harp 1. The Pond IV Extolling 'II. Angling V Walden Revisited III. Observing

INTERMISSION

III MODERN MADRIGALS keewaydin Harry Freedman (b. 1922) L'Invitation au Voyage John Corigliano (b. 1938) Of Crows and Clusters Norman DelIo Joio (b. 1913)

IV EMPTINESS OF NIGHT Le Campane de Leopardi (Leopardi's Bells) Yehuda Yannay (b. 1937) Mindy Ratner, Speaker Jerry Rubino, Carol Barnett and David Sherman, tuned wineglasses

V AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC Wonder Where (Spiritual) Carol Barnett Pretty Saro (Traditional) Mark Keller The Water is Wide (Traditional) ' Stephen Paulus Oh, Yes!(Spiritual) Carol Barnett

00 INSTRUMENTALISTS 00 Kathy Kienzle, harp Jim Jacobson, cello Robert Jamison, cello Jerry Rubino, piano Laura Sewell, cello -4- I Canadian FolkMusic

HARRY SOMERS (B. 1925): SI ;'AVAIS LE BATEAU (NEWFOUNDLAND) We start with a bang, almost literally. Canadian Harry Somers took what he calls considerable "composer's license" with this rowdy drinking song from the Newfoundland ports, adding drums and trumpets (imitated by the singers). After a bohemian life in the 1950's when he drove taxi and played guitar professionally - all the while composing concert music - Somers began receiving commissions. By 1972 his services to Canadian music were rewarded when he was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, his country's highest award.

DEREK HEALEY (B. 1936): SALISH SONG (SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA) The Salish are a tribe of natives that flourished in British Columbia. (The related tribe in the States called them- selves the Flathead.) Before European conquest, most Salish lived along the Pacific and were harpoonsmen; others living inland fished the Frazier River. Healey, a native of England, discovered their music while teaching at the University of Victoria, B.C. in the late 1960's. His arrangement of a Salish song begins bold and proud, quoting the original melody in a transliteration of the Salish tongue. The tune is repeated throughout, and acts as an anchor while the music grows more dissonant and varied, but gradually the entire sound begins to dwindle. In a poignant comment on the Salish's fate, the last bar fades a niente, to nothing.

HARRY SOMERS (B. 1925): FELLER FROM FORTUNE (NEWFOUNDLAND) Back to the east, where Somers found this rollicking dance along the Newfoundland coast. No fewer than five Newfie ports are mentioned in this score, Carbonear, Cat Harbor, Fortune, St. Pierre, Bonavista (sadly, no men- tion of Heart's Content or Come By Chance), and unlike your normal dance tune, the rhythm here is constantly changing. See if you can get your toe tapping to the beat

II World Premiere

DOMINICK ARGENTO: WALDEN POND Nocturnes and Barcaroles for Mixed Chorus,

Commissioned by and dedicated to Dale Warland and the This commission was made possible in part by the Barlow

I. The Pond IV Extolling II. Angling V Walden Revisited III. Observing

DOMINICK ARGENTO Dominick Argento won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for his song cycle From the Diary o/Virginia Woolf, commissioned by the Schubert Club and premiered by Dame Janet Baker. Renowned for his stage works, several of which have been produced in both America and Europe, Argento is a preeminent composer of lyric opera, choral music and intimate vocal works. Among his recent operas are The Aspern Papers, premiered by the Dallas Opera in 1988 and tele- cast on the PBS series Great Performances, and The Dream o/Valentino, co-commissioned by the Washington Opera and Dallas Opera, which presented successive productions in 1994 and 1995.A Minneapolis resident, Argento has composed incidental music for several Guthrie Theater productions. He has also written large-scale orchestral works, several to commissions by the Minnesota Orchestra. He is Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota, where as a member of the School of Music faculty, he has been a mentor to , two generations of composers. His numerous honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. -5- After our Great Lakes, America's most well-known body of water is a little half-mile long pond in eastern Massachusetts. Walden. Far out of proportion to the pond's actual size, its name is mythic in the American consciousness. Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book, Walden, written after two years of living on its shores, was a pivot in our literature - and after 150 years it still challenges most American notions about work, leisure, individualism, and the environment.

suburban Boston, Thoreau's beloved pond is besiegedsome days by as ..tourists.Developers angle to exploit its commercial potential while fight them. Walden, the book, is similarlypopular, taught from held up by philosophers,naturalists,and authors asa model of and influence, though, Walden has never attracted vocal gracefulstyleputs them off how do you set a masterpiece to music?

Enter, Dominick Argento. Far from fearing this kind of text, the longtime University of Minnesota professor revels in setting them to music. His song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolfwon the 1975 Pulitzer Prize, and he's mined Chekhov, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and other literary stars for his subsequent vocal works. "Using fine literature is almost an encour- agement to me," he says, "because it's clean and honed, unlike a lot of lyrics or poetry."

The opportunity to write for the DWS directed Argento toward Thoreau. "It was a chicken-and-egg situation. 1was looking for a text to set, and 1 kept thinking of the clarity of the Warland Singers' sound. That led me to Thoreau because of his clarity. 1 admire the DWS above all other vocal groups and wanted a text that would flatter them. Thoreau was it."

Walden Pond was written over a six month period at Argento's Minneapolis home, complet- ed this spring. Rare in its choice of text, Walden Pond is also unique for its accompaniment; can you name a single other piece written for three cellos and harp?

"The sound these instruments make is one that might haunt the Walden woods," Argento muses. "I was reading the passage where Thoreau sits in his boat in the middle of the pond, and he can see forty feet down, and it struck me that the clarity and depth he describes are also the qualities of the cello. The choice of the harp was obvious, it's commonly associated with water. The trick was to craft music that doesn't suggest the obvious."

He more than mastered the trick in this score of immense warmth. The first movement is cast in a gentle 6/8 rhythm suggesting smooth waves lapping the shore. Note the first entrance, the chord built of major 2nds (from C to D, and D toE). harmony is a signature of this first movement and will return score. Like the rhythm, it suggests the movement of dynamics rarely rise above a reverent softness in

The key to the second movement one of unbroken harmony." Thoreau is an old man, but Argento's setting raises the feel waves play against the boat (in the frequent meter changes), but the silence around Thoreau is holy. Listen for the quote of ''Abide With Me" in the tenors; in Angling's closing moments it creates a passage of enormous simplicity, beauty, and conviction.

- 6- The pace quickens in the third movemerit (Observing). Thoreau sees "dimpling circles inces- santly inscribed on [Walden's] surface" and Argento's melodies becomes agitated, angular, the rhythm even more varied. Argento asks the musicians for a joyous mood at the sight of Walden's "constant welling up ... the gentle pulsing of its life... "

The fourth. movement (Extolling) contains Argento's own favorite passage: the bitonal against each other) arpeggios in the harp that open choral fortissimo, "Sky water." The text here contains a dash and Argento matches this bracing theology with exuberant music.

After ye~rs. -:.iii< to find the "woodchoppers have laid them waste." He jshorr1fi~(t Argento's music in Walden Revisited is bitter, full of thorns - but just in the beginning. Thoreau eventually sees Walden's regenerative power, too, how it is "springing up as lustily as ever" where it had been cut down. He is warmed by that sight and takes great hope. Likewise, Argento brings back the gentle warmth of the very opening (remember those 2nds?) and the work ends on a haunting yet optimistic note as Thoreau asks, and the choir whispers, "Walden, is it you?"

L The Pond end of the boat, and I at the other; but not many Nothing so fair, so pure lies on the surface of the words passed between us, for he had grown deaf in his earth. It is a clear and deep green well, half a mile long; later years, but he occasionally hummed a psalm, a perennial spring in the midst of pine and oak woods. which harmonized well enough with my philosophy. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder Our intercourse was thus altogether one of unbroken measures the depth of his own nature; it is a mirror harmony, far more pleasing to remember than if it had which no stone can crack, whose quicksilver will never been carried on by speech. wear off; a mirror which retains no breath that is breathed on it, but sends its own to float as clouds high IlL Observing above its surface, and be reflected on its bosom still. It is a soothing employment to sit on a stump, There are few traces of man's hand to be seen. on a height overlooking the pond, and study the The water laves the shore as it did a thousand years dimpling circles incessantly inscribed on its surface ago. This water is of such crystalline purity that the amid the reflected skies and trees. body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness, It may be that in the distance a fish describes an which, as the limbs are magnified and distorted, arc of three or four feet in the air, and there is one produces a monstrous effect, making fit studies for bright flash where it emerges, and another where it Michelangelo. strikes the water. Or here and there, a pickerel or shiner So pure, so fair. picks an insect from this smooth surface; it is wonderful with what elaborateness this simple fact is advertised - IL Angling this piscine murder will out - reported in circling In warm evenings I frequently sat in the boat dimples, in lines of beauty, the constant welling up of playing the flute, and saw the perch, which I seem to its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving have charmed, hovering around me, and the moon of its breast. Then the trembling circles seek the shore traveling over the ribbed bottom, which was strewed and all is smooth again. with the wrecks of the forest. One November afternoon, the pond was Sometimes, I spent the hours of midnight fishing remarkably smooth, so that it was difficult to from a boat anchored in forty feet of water and distinguish its surface. I was surprised to find myself communicating by a long flaxen line with mysterious surrounded by myriads of small, bronze-colored perch. nocturnal fishes, serenaded by owls and foxes, and In such transparent water, reflecting the clouds, I hearing, from time to time, the creaking note of some seemed to be floating through the air as in a balloon, unknown bird close at hand. and their swimming impressed me as a kind of flight There was one older man, an excellent fisher; or hovering, as if they were birds passing just beneath once in a while we sat together on the pond, he at one my level, their fins, like sails, set all around them.

- 7- IK Extolling U Walden Revisited Since I left those shores the wood-choppers have Sky water. laid them waste, but I remember, I remember ... Lake of light. I remember when I first paddled a boat on Great crystal on the surface of the earth. Walden, it was completely surrounded by thick and lofty pine and oak woods, and in some of its coves Successive nations perchance have drank at, grapevines had run over the trees next the water and admired, and fathomed it, and passed away, and still .formed bowers under which a boat could pass. I have its water is green and pellucid as ever. spent many an hour floating over its surface as the Who knows in how many unremembered zephyr willed, in a summer forenoon, lying on my nations' literatures this has been the Castalian back across the seats, dreaming awake. Fountain? or what nymphs presided over it in the And though the woodchoppers have laid bare Golden Age? first this shore and then that, it struck me again Perhaps on that spring morning when Adam tonight - Why, here is Walden, the same woodland and Eve were driven out of Eden Walden Pond was lake that I discovered so many years ago; where a forest already in existence, and even then breaking up in a was cut down last winter another is springing up as gentle spring rain and covered with ducks and geese, lustily as ever; the same thought is welling, up to its which had not heard of the fall. Even then it had clari- surface that was then; it is the same liquid joy and hap- fied its waters and colored them of the hue piness to itself and its Maker. He rounded this water wear and obtained a patent of hand, deepened and clarified it in his thought. Walden Pond in the that it is visited by the same reflection; say, you?

III

HARRY FREEDMAN (B. 1922): We'll head north again, with the music of Polish-born Canadian Harry Freedman. Freedman is Canada's musical Renaissance man. As a clarinetist, he used to swing with Canadian big bands; then he switched to English horn and performed with the Toronto Symphony (1946-70). His compositions show that same kind of stylistic range. keewaydin is a kid's piece designed, Freedman says, "to prepare young people for contemporary musical experiences by stressing intervals and relationships rather than notes of a scale. It is an ear training piece, to develop pitch memory as well as the ability to sing any interval regardless of what other notes are sounding." keewaydin s text is made up of Ontario place names taken from the language of the Ojibwa Indians. Freedman says that the use of the words is purely on the basis of sound, not meaning.

JOHN CORIGLIANO (B. 1938): LINVITATION AU VOYAGE New York-born Corigliano is one of America's most well-known classical composers. His career was spot- lighted in the late '80S with a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Composer in Residence. For the CSO he created lyrically expressive instrumental scores, dissonant but firmly grounded in tonality - qualities also found in this setting of Charles Baudelaire's 19th century love poem Llnvitation au l1oyage.

My child, my sister, dream Move me with such a mystery as appears How sweet all things would seem Within those other skies iX7erewein that kind land to live together. Of your treacherous eyes And there love slow and long, When I behold them shining through their tears. There love and die among Those scenesthat image you, that sumptuous weather. There, there is nothing else but grace and measure, Drowned suns that glimmer there Richness, quietness and pleasure. Through cloud-disheveled air

- 8- Furniture that wears the luster of the years See, shelteredfrom the swells Softly would glow within our glowing chamber. There in the still canals Flowers of rarest bloom Those drowsy ships that dream ofsailingforth; Proffering their perfume, It is to satisfY Mixed with vaguefragrances of amber; YOurleast desire, they ply Gold ceilings would there be Hither through all the waters of the heart. Mirrors deep as the sea, The sun at close of day The walls all in Eastern splendor hung, Clothes the fields of hay, Nothing but should address Then the canals, at last the town entire The soul's loneliness In hyacinth and gold: Speaking her sweet and native tongue. Slowly the land is rolled Sleepward under a sea of gentle fire. There, there is nothing else but grace and measure Richness, quietness and pleasure. There, there is nothing but grace and measure, Richness, quietness, and pleasure. - Charles Baudelaire

NORMAN DELLO JOIO (B. 1913): OF CROWS AND CLUSTERS

The title says it all. Here are two old crows sitting on a fence rail thinking about, « ... cause and effect, effect and cause, and of nature's laws" - in other words, not much. One asks the other a riddle and gets a stutter for an answer. DelIo ]oio set Vachel Lindsay's text in a way that points up its nonsensical nature. His primary musical tools are clusters, tight little elbows-on-the-keyboard chords that clot nearly every bar of the accompaniment. He trips these up with a bumptious rhythm so in the end you never really know where you're at, just as you never really know if the old crow ever got his answer!

IV Emptiness of Night

YEHUDA J'ANNAY (B. 1937): LE CAMPANE DI LEOPARDI (LEOPARDI's BELLS) FOR CHOIR AND TUNED GLASSES (1979) with Mindy Ratner, speaker Yehuda Yannay is a Romanian-born Israeli-American composer. He's been on the composition faculty of the University of Wisconsin since 1970. His Le Campane di Leopardi begins with two wine glasses tuned to the interval of an open fifth, B-flat to F, what Yannay has labeled "II vacua di notre" (the emptiness of night). An open fifth is neither minor nor major, it's a strong but empty sound waiting to be filled. Voices soon enter in rich chords that more than fill it - but only temporarily - their text (in Italian) that of a man remembering his night-fears as a boy. Each line the choir sings is divided into two sequences; each sequence contains the same number of syllables. For instance, the first line of text is eight syllables long; after a pause, the singers hum eight more chords as the speaker simultaneously counts to eight, representing the tolling ofthe hour. Then, the pattern is repeated, nine syllables and nine hours, and so forth through the night. This is clock music, but between each of these slow tollings the wine glasses continue to ring, hollow and haunting. You can feel the boy's fear of the night. Finally, at dawn, the open fifth is filled with sunlight .

. . . The tolling of the hour is carried by the wind From the town-belfry. It was the sound that comforted me, As I remember, during those terrible nights Of boyhood, when I lay awake in my dark room, Filled with fright, longing for the dawn ...

V American FolkMusic

CAROL BARNETT: WONDER WHERE (SPIRITUAL)

MARK KELLER: PRETTY SARO (TRAD.)

STEPHEN PAULUS: THE UZ1TERIS WIDE (TRAD.)

CAROL BARNETT: OH, YES! (SPIRITUAL)

-9- SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 1996,8:00 P.M. WAYZATA COMMUNITY CHURCH, WAYZATA SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8 1996, 4:00 P.M. CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY, ST. PAUL

Welcome to Echoes of Christmas, 1996! Our program is an around-the-world-in-two-hours blend of old and new, near and far. First stops are England and Germany, countries rich in wonderful Christmas traditions. For instance in Germany, the Weinachtsmarkts, or Christmas markets, are the place to be this time of year. These open-air shopping venues (yes, in December!) do a brimming business. Located in the city square, the Weinachtsmarkt is the best place to share a glass of soul-warming Gluwein, hot spiced wine, with neighbors. Shortly after Christmas many Germans wake to find the letters M, B, K painted on door, the initials of the Three Kings (Melchior, Balthazar, and Kasper) who and granted health and happiness to all inside - our Christmas wish

I CAROLS FROM ENGLAND AND

On Christmas Night (England) . Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Michael What Cheer (England) . How Far Is It to Bethlehem (England) Stephen Personent Hodie (Piae Cautiones, 1582) '.' ..

II LATIN CAROLS Ave Maris Stella Trond Kverno conducted by Jerry Rubino o Magnum Mysterium Morton Lauridsen

III WORLD PREMIERE So Blessedly it Sprung

INTERMISSION IV MINNESOTA CAROLS New WOrks by Minnesota Composers

Christmas Tiding Anne Kilstofte Videntes Stellam Dale Warland o Viridissima

V CAROLS FROM FRANCE Chorale on an Old French Carol Benjamin Britten II est ne (He is born) Donna Gartman Schultz Hymne a la Vierge (Hymn to the Virgin) Pierre Villette Sing We Now of Christmas Fred Prentice

VI CAROLS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Look at the Stars (Three Nativity Carols) (U.S.) Carl Witt The Huron Carol (Canada) Robert B. Anderson Niech Jezus Chrystus (Praise the Lord) (Poland) Karol Szymanowski o Magnum Mysterium (England) Peter Maxwell Davies Tyrley, Tyrlow (England) Peter Warlock

~ INSTRUMENTALISTS ~

Judy Kogan, harp Tom Turner, viola Kathleen Robinson, oboe Jay Johnson, percussion

- 10- I Carolsfrom England and Germany

DAVID WILLCOCKS: ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT (ENGLAND)

JAN SANDSTROM: Es 1ST EIN Ros ENTSPRUNGEN (MICHAEL PRAETORIUS)

WILLIAM WALTON: WHAT CHEER (ENGLAND)

STEPHEN PAULUS: How FAR IS IT TO

JOHN RUTTER: PERSONENT HODIE (PIAE

II Latin Carols

TROND KVERNO: AVE MARIS STELLA Kverno graduated as an organist from the Oslo Conservatory in 1967 a special focus on ancient church music. Ave Maris Stella is a centuries-old text that likens the Virgin Mary to a guiding star. Kverno's 1976 setting is pleading and passionate, especially the line "Monstra te esse matrem ... " (Show thyself to be a Mother. .. ) that the men repeat with increasing desperation.

Hail ocean'sstar, Virgin all excelling, God's mother dear, Among all most meek, Likewise ever a virgin, Usfrom sin setfree, Blest heavenly gate. Meek make thou and chaste.

Receiving that Ave Life on us bestow that ispure, from Gabriel's lips, A way prepare that is safe Settle us in peace, In order that seeingjesus, Reversing Eva's name. Always we may rejoice.

Loose their chains for the guilty, Be praise to God the Father, Bring forth Light for the blind' To Most High Christ bepraise, WOesof ours dispel, And to the Spirit Holy, Good in all things ask for us. To the Three be honor equally. Amen.

Show thyself to be a Mother: Hail, full of grace! May He receive through thee our prayers, The Lord is with thee! Who for us was born Blessed art thou among women! and Designed to be thy Son.

MORTON LAURIDSEN: 0 MAGNUM MYSTERIUM Lauridsen, a longtime faculty member at the University of Southern California, wrote this setting of the ancient 0 Magnum Mysterium text in 1994 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Inspired, as so many other composers before him have been, by the juxtaposition of the newborn Lord lying among barn animals, Lauridsen created what he calls "a quiet song of profound inner joy."

o great mystery, and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in their manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord jesus Christ. Alleluia!

- 11 - III World Premiere

LIBBY LARSEN: So BLESSEDLY IT SPRUNG Harp, viola, oboe and chorus

Commissioned by the Dale Warland Singers for their 25th anniversary. The commissioning of So Blessedly It Sprung was made possible by agrantfrc!1ftthe>lyjeet/ /">prrtposer/Reader'sDigest Commissioning Program, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and-the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund

I am enormously fascinated by medieval texts, and the importance of metaphor to medieval writers. To them the contemplation of a particularly vivid metaphor had two-fold results: it was a new way to view the world; and it deepened their spirituality in profound ways. I'm interested in that search for metaphor in our own lives. We lack the ability to recognize it. \ Consequently, we take literally much of what we see.

So Blessedly It Sprung is a setting of two rzth century poems - the first, De radice flos ascendit, in Latin by Adam of St. Victor, the second an old English poem, Of a Rose. The metaphor: Christ is a rose sprung from the branch of Mary. The message is of miraculous birth in a time of darkness. I was especially drawn to these texts because they address the real battle we face in our culture to celebrate Christmas as a celebration of spiritual re-birth.

I set the Old English text in seven verses with refrain, and intersperse the Adam of St. Victor text. The choral parts flow in a chant-like way, interrupted by lively outbursts, sometimes of purely instrumental color. Originally I thought the Adam of St. Victor portion would be a lullaby, but the poet contemplates the metaphor of the rose and branch and finds himself in a state of ecstasy, so no lullaby would work here! I hope that both singer and the audience will be swept up in the ecstasy of birth and the peacefulness of renewal.

-Libby Larsen

As one of the most active and successful composers working today, Libby Larsen has produced a substantial body of important works for orchestra, dance, opera, choral, chamber and solo performance. Recognized for "her music's subtle and sophisticated harmony, revealing an extraordinary capacity for combining seemingly dissimilar elements with great ease" her works are widely performed and recorded. Her Sonnets From the Portuguese is featured on the 1994 Grammy Award- winning CD, The Art of Arleen Auger. Larsen's opera, Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus, includes being selected as one of the 8 best classical music events of 1990 by USA Today. Libby Larsen is also an articulate and influential advocate for the arts. In 1973 she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum. She is an advisor to many musical organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAp, and the American Symphony Orchestra League. She has served as composer-in-residence with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Charlotte Symphony. Among her awards are the National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowships, the American Council on the Arts Young Artist Award, a Bush Artists Fellowship, commissions from Meet the Composer/Readers Digest Lila Wallace Foundation, and commissions from the American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Cleveland String Quartet, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Arkansas Opera Theater, Eugenia Zukerman, Arleen Auger, The Walker Art Center, The Plymouth Music Series and The Schubert Club of St. Paul. She has been Composer in Residence with the Minnesota Orchestra (1983-87) and visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and California Institute of the Arts, as well as a guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout the country, and is a co-founder of the nationally acclaimed Minnesota Composers Forum.

- 12- jesus, immortal child, may your birthday give us Mary should bear the flower; there came an angel peace and joy here; from the tower of heaven to break the devil's bond. Virginal flower and fruit, who'sfragrance is life- The second branch was great in might that grew gzvzng, on Christmas night; the star shone and gleamed so to you bepraise and glory. one could see it day and night. The third branch -from "De radiceflos ascendit" began to grow and spread,' it led three kings to the - Adam of St. Victor branch, to Our Lady in her childbed,' that branch grew straight into Bethlehem. The fourth branch Of a rose, a lovely rose, I sing a song. Heed and lis- grew down to hell to destroy the devil's power; so no ten both old and young, how the rose began to blos- soul should dwell therein, the branch grew sofull som; to our liking, a fairer rose never blossomed in of blessing. The fifth branch was so sweet it grew to king's land. There arefive branches of that rose, heaven, both top and root, salvation in which are both fair and lovely; of a maiden, Mary, every trial, so heaven's queen, out of her bosom the branch arose. The first branch was of great honor, that

IV Minnesota Carols

-~.: .' . Tonight we continue our annual Echoes celebration of new mUSIc. year, or innesota composers gIve us all the gift of a work written just for our Echoes of Christmas con~e[t.IJ.1 c~rn9;1issi~l.}· them, the Dale Warland Singers keep great holiday music a vibrant living.tradition, not just a reniembrarlceof~ '

ANNE KILSTOFTE: CHRISTMAS TIDING Commissioned by Thelma and Sam Hunter and Gloria and Fred Sewell in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Dale Warland Singers

Ifound this poem in a turn-of-the-century publication called In Wink-a-way Land. The text is by Eugene Field (1850-95), the poet who wrote Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. All his work is filled with images for and about children, and it has an innocence that attracts me. Why? Ifeel there's so much craziness in our world, everything going so fast - for me to create things that are in contrast to that, to balance that, is a kind of therapy. So, here is a gentle poem and a gentle musical rendering. -Anne Kilstofte

The angel host that sped last night, "Awake, 0 Bells; (tis Christmas morn- Bearing the wondrous news afar, Awake and let thy music tell Came in their ever-gloriousflight To every soul that now is born Unto a slumbering little star. What Shepherd loves His lambkins well!"

"Awake and sing, 0 star!" they cried; Then rang the bells asfled the night "Awake and glorifY the morn! O'er dreaming land and drowsing deep, Herald the tidings far and wide - And, coming with the morning light, He that shall lead His flock is born!" They called, my child, to you asleep.

The little star awoke and sung Sweetly and tenderly they spoke, As only stars in rapture may, And, lingering round your little bed, And presently where church bells hung their music pleaded till you woke, The joyous tidings found their way. And this is what their music said:

- 13- "Awake and sing! 'tis Christmas morn, "Auiake, and sing 'tis Christmas morn - Whereon all earth salutes her King; Awake and let thy music ring In Bethlehem is the Shepherd born - tell everyone that He is born - Awake, 0 little lamb! and sing. " Awake and glorifY the King!" -Eugene Field So, dear my child, kneel at my knee, And with those voicesfrom above Share thou this holy time with me, The universal hymn of love!

DALE WARLAND: VIDENTES STELLAM (SEEING THE STAR) Commissioned by Margie and Pete Ankeny in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Dale Warland Singers

I began this short work this summer in Cronulla, Australia, and completed it this fall in St. Paul. It's simple in construction, and capitalizes primarily on the unique textures and colors resulting from the voices, harp and glock- enspiel combined in various ways. The intention is to conjure up images of mystery, joy, and especially light. -Dale Warland

Seeing the star, And, entering the house, the Magi rejoiced exceedingly: they offered the Lord gold, with great joy; frankincense, and myrrh. -Matthew 2:10-11

]ANIKA VANDERVELDE: 0 VIRIDISSIMA Commissioned by Glenace Edwall for the Dale Warland Singers .

Minnesotan Janika Vandervelde composed 0 Viridissima for the Dale Warland Singers in 1992. This Minnesota Carol, brought back for this concert, is on a text by the rzth century German mystic Hildegard von Bingen. Many today who set Hildegard's words to music create an ethereal sound, but Vandervelde turns that convention on its head. Her setting is highly syncopated, rhythmic, and, with the accompanying castanet and woodblock, tinged with the sounds of Latin America.

Hail, 0 greenest branch, which gave fragrance to all the spices sprung forth in the airy breezes which had been dry. of the prayers and inquiries of the saints. And they have appeared to all in full verdure. For in thou blossomed the beautiful flower Now let there be praise to the Highest.

V Carolsfrom France

BENJAMIN BRITTEN: CHORALE ON AN OLD FRENCH CAROL

DONNA GARTMAN SCHULTZ: IL EST NE (He IS BORN)

PIERRE VILLETTE: HYMNE A LA VIERGE

FRED PRENTICE: SING WE Now OF

VI Carolsfrom Around the World

CARL WITT: LOOK AT THE STARS (FROM THREE NATIVITY CAROLS) (U.S.)

ROBERT B. ANDERSON: THE HURON CAROL (CANADA)

KAROL SZYMANOWSKI: NIECH ] EZUS CHRYSTUS (PRAISE THE LORD) (POLAND)

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: 0 MAGNUM MYSTERIUM (ENGLAND)

PETER WARLOCK' TYRLEY, TYRLOW (ENGLAND)

-14 - DALE WARLAND SINGERS

SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS Beth Althof Cyndee Chaffee Paul Anderson Bruce Broquist Marie Spar Dymit Joanne Halvorsen Bruce Brown Dave Jacobson Lynette Johnson Shelley Kline Jerome Elsbernd .Arthur LaRue Cathy Larsen Linda Kachelmeier Bryan Fisher Todd Liljenquist Rebecca Lowe Lynda Madej Steven Knight David Moberg Julie Olson Susan Ramlet Matthew Knoester Bob Peskin Elizabeth Pauly Momoko Tanno Rob Pontious Jim Ramlet Ruth Thompson Karen Wilkerson Randy Speer Michael Schmidt Teresa Tierney Teresa Woollums Steve Staruch Mark Sheldon Jeanne Wegener Brian Steele Jane Wilson Woody Woodward

BOARD OF DIRECTORS ARTISTIC STAFF Ginger Sisco, President Dale Warland Founder/Music Director Arlene Williams, Vice President Jerry Rubino .. Associate Conductor and Accompanist Caroly Lynn Pine, Secretary Peter Hendrickson Assistant Conductor Donald M. Davies, Treasurer Carol Barnett Composer in Residence

Mark Addicks ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Margaret D. Ankeny Bonnie L. McClain, , Executive Director Arland D. Brusven Susan Runholt .Interim Development Director James L. Davis Marlene Bartlett, . .Administrative and Financial Asst. Glenna Dibrell Robert Peskin Personnel Manager Bonnie L. McClain Jim Rarnlet .Librarian Frances A. Nelson Ruth Anderson Office Volunteer Jim Ramlet Ellen Saul Office Volunteer Judy Ranheim Brian Newhouse Program Annotator Cherie Riesenberg Robert S. Spong Mary K. Steinke Dale Warland The Singers' choral risers and acoustical shell are Teresa Woollums manufactured by: Wenger Corporation, Owatonna, MN 55060. HONORARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Please note: No cameras or recording devices may be Dominick Argento used during performances. Please turn off any elec- Dave Brubeck tronic beeping devices (watches, pagers, etc.) or leave Dennis Russell Davies them with an usher prior to the performance. Please Eric Ericson hold your applause until each section is completed. Margaret Hillis William LaRue Jones If you have any comments or questions, feel free to Bobby McFerrin contact the staff at the Dale Warland Singers office: William McGlaughlin II9 North Fourth Street, Suite 510 Krzysztof Penderecki Minneapolis, MN 55401-1792 Helmuth Rilling (612) 339-9707 John Rutter [email protected] Robert Shaw www.winternet.com/-webpage/warland.html George Shearing Leonard Slatkin Recordings are available for purchase in the lobby, or Sir call 339-9707 for further information about recordings. Hugh Wolff David Zinman

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