Orchestra Hall Program, Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music
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SIXTH WORLD SYMPOSIUM ~~~~ ~!gj~E§~ON CHORAL ~---r-~~----4~-\ MUS IC J-+---~ MINNESOTA SINGS FAREWELL SIXTH WORlD CHORAL SYMPOSIUM GRAND FINALE CONCER.T OR.CH ESTRA HALL SATURDAY, AUGUST 10. 2002 7:30 PM Opening Remarks U. S. Representative Betty McCollum Diana J. Leland, Secretary WCS6 Board of Directors I THE ST. OLAF CHOIR ST. OLAF COLLEGE NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA ANTON ARMSTRONG, CONDUCTOR o Day Full of Grace Christoph E.F. Weyse orr. F. Melius Christiansen (Augsburg Fortress-11 026) The lord Is the Everlasting Gad Kenneth Jennings (Mark Foster Music Company- 21 37) Wayn6paq Taki Eduardo Alonso-Crespo (Chant to a Young Person) (earthsongs) Sung in Ooechuo Past life Melodies Sarah Hopkins (Morton Music- 200 1) This little light of Mine orr. Moses Hogan (Hal leonard Publishing) Kyrie Glenn McClure (Saint Francis in the Americas: (earth songs) A Caribbean Mass) Sung in latin and Italian II THE DALE WARlAND SINGERS MINNEAPOLlS/ST. PAUL. MINNESOTA DALE WARLAN D, CON DUCTOR Snow (The King's Trumpeter) John Muehleisen (Colla Voce) Martin Hodel, trumpet Hildegard Triptych Frank Ferko o vis aeternitatis (ECS Publishing-5442) o virtus Sapientiae (ECS Publishing 5444) Sung in latin To God, "in memoriam M.B." Dominick Argento (Boosey & Hawkes OCTB6819) Martin Hodel, trumpet Confitemini Domino Alberto Grau World Premiere Performance (eorthsongs) Commissioned by the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music Sung in Latin My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord Spiritual orr. Carol Barnett (Colla Voce 37-21022) INTERMISSION -15 MINUTES- III AN INVITATION TO THE SEVENTH WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON CHORAL MUSIC KYOTO. JAPAN 2005 IV THE VOCALESSENCE ENSEMBLE SINGERS MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA PHILIP BRUNELLE, CONDUCTOR My Beloved Is Mine, and I Am His Chris DeBlasio from The Best-Beloved (Wayne Leupold Editions, WLll0003) Antiphon for the Virgin Tina Davidson from River of Love, River of Light Self-published, [email protected]) Love Opened A Mortal Wound Stephen Paulus World Premiere Performance (Paulus Publications) Commissioned by the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music My River Runs to Thee William Hawley from Four Reveries (Self-published, [email protected]) Gala del dlo (Day's Finery) Carlos Guastavino from Indianas # 1 (Ricordi BA12751) Sung in Spanish If There Be Sorrow David Baker from Images, Shadows and Dreams: (Self-published, Five Vignettes [email protected]) EI Hambo Jaakko Mantyiarvi (Sulasol 387) v MOORE BY FOUR MINNEAPOLIS. MINNESOTA SANFORD MOORE. CONDUCTOR Duke's Place ("C-Jam Blues") Katz/Ellington arr. Sanford Moore (additional lyrics by Connie Evingsonl Just Squeeze Me Ellington/Gaines arr. Sanford Moore Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit Traditional arr. Sanford Moore I Want to Be Ready Traditional arr. Sam Davis love You Madly Duke Ellington arr. Sanford Moore VI COMBINED MINNESOTA CHOIRS Shenandoah American Folk Song arr. James Erb (lawson Gould lG51846) What 0 Mighty God Eric McDaniels arr. Michael Abels (Subito Musicl PROGRAM NOTES AN D TEXTS THE ST. OLAF CHOIR o DAY FULL OF GRACE - CHRJSTOPH E.F. WEYSE, ARK F. MELIUS CHRISTIANSEN o day full of grace which we behold, How blest was that gracious midnight hour, Now gently to view ascending, When God in our flesh was given; Thou over the earth thy reign unfold, Then flushed the dawn with light and power, Good cheer to all mortals lending, That spread o'er the darkened heaven; That children of light in every clime Then rose o'er the world that sun divine May prove that the night is ending. Which gloom from our hearts hath driven. Yea, were every tree endowed with speech, And every leaflet singing, They never with praise God's worth could reach, Though earth with their praise be ringing. Who fully could praise the light of life Who light to our souls is bringing? With joy we depart for the promised land, And there we shall walk in endless light. -Nicolai F.S. Grundtvig tr. 0. H. Smeby, G. T.Rygh, C. Doving THE LORD IS THE EVERLASTING GOD - KENNETH JENNINGS The lord is the everlasting God, God gives power to the faint, the Creator of the ends of the earth, and strengthens the powerless. who does not faint or grow weary; Even youths will faint and be weary, whose understanding is unsearchable. and the young will fall exhausted; But those who wait for the lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Have you not heard? Have you not known? -Text: Isaiah 40:28-31 WAYNApAQTAKI - EDUARDO ALONSO-CRISPO (CHANT TO A YOUNG PERSON) Why does your life vocillote What person is invincible, Ifeverything is born for you. And what heart invulnerable, say. You ore seed you can't weaken. What law is inexorable, Which stone, which fire and what blood unliquefiable. And which wind can't your forces defeat? What strength is unbeatable, What can be difficult for you? And what weight irresistible. As huge as the river may be It can always be crossed. You are seed You can't vacillate. What sea can't be leaped. And which star cannot be collected. You must grow, enlarge, run, Advance, conquer, and stump. What fortress is unreducible, -William Hurtado de Mendoza And what spike is unbreakable. Trans. Eduardo Alonso-Crespo PAST LIFE MELODIES - SARAH HOPKINS The melodic ideas of the work, like those in all of Sarah Hopkins' music, are simple in structure, and reach deep into the soul. The first melody was one which haunted the composer for many years-a melody which came to her at moments of extreme emotion. The second melody reRects her considerable interest in the music of various world cultures, and in this particular case, her eight years in Darwin where she had much contact with Australian Aboriginal art and music. The third section of the work utilizes a concept called harmonic-overtone singing, which is as ancient a technique as singing itself. Here the seporate harmonic voices weave and dart like 'golden threads' above the earthy drone sustained by the main body of the choir. The richness and subtlety of colours and the earthy hearty quality of the voices, along with an inner rhythm of very simple ideas and materials, offers the listener a communication with the very soul and heart of music itself. -Program note by Stephen Leek THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE - AfZR. MOSES HOGAN This little light of mine, My God gave it to me, I'm gonna let it shine. I'm gonna let it shine. All through the night, In my home let it shine, I'm gonno let it shine. All over the world let it shine. -Traditional Spiritual KYItIE - GLENN MCCLUItE (SAINT FltANCIS IN THE AMEItICAS: A CAItIBBEAN MASS) lord have mercy, Christ have mercy; lord have mercy. Most high and glorious God,illuminate the darkness of my heart, and grant an upright faith, perfect love, certain hope, profound humility, wisdom and understanding, 0 lord, that I might follow your holy and true commandment. -St. Francis of Assissi (1182-1226) THE DALE WARlAND SINGERS PROGAAM NOTES BY BItIAN NEWHOUSE SNOW (THE KING'S TItUMPETER) - JOHN MUEHLEISEN One of the best-known musicians in the Seattle area was Roy Cummings, a trumpeter and jazz teacher at the University of Washington. His untimely death two years ago shocked the Seattle music community and, writes composer John Muehleisen, "left a great void in many lives, particularly those of his family and students." So Muehleisen's moving new score is dedicated to the memory of Cummings. The composer had the good fortune to find an anonymous epitaph for a man named Snow who'd once served the British court as a trumpeter. Thaw every breast, melt every eye with woe, Here's dissolution by the hand of death! To dirt, to water, turned the fairest Snow. O! The King's trumpeter has lost his breath. -Anonymous epitaph HILDEGARD TRJPTYCH - FRANK FERKO "0 VIS AETERNITATIS" "0 VI RTUS SAPIENTIAE" When Hildegard von Bingen was born in 1098 in Germany, her parents pledged her to serve the Church and at the age of three she began to have luminous spiritual visions. At 15 she took the veil and eventually founded a monastery in the Rhine Valley. For years, Hildegard told no one of her visions. But in 1141, she had a revelation from God commanding her to record everything she saw in her visions, and this changed her life. She wrote: "And it came to pass, when I wos 42 years and seven months old, the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance Rowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming .. ." She went on to write music and poetry, as well as treatises on natural history, medicine, and theology. Popes and kings sought her advice. Hildegard is renowned for all of this today and for being the first composer in history whose biography is known to us. The Chicago-based organist and composer Frank Ferko (b.19501 has become a Hildegard expert, and his fascination with her work has led him to compose several scores based on her legacy. Ferko says that the beauty and intensity of Hildegard's poetry made such an impression on him that he decided in 1997 to extend an earlier motet cycle with these three pieces for double choir. Hildegard Triptych is dedicated to Dale Warland. As the first motet ("0 vis aeternitatis") opens, Hildegard's vision of God's strength is portrayed by a rhythmic figure imitating a heartbeat. The circling imagery of the third motet's text ("0 virtus Sapientiae") is reflected in two themes which the choirs present at the beginning, then circulate and quietly resolve.