XI. GREEK Baritone & Tenor solo with Full chorus Thea Musgrave Let us drink by Alcaeus (c. 610 BC). Now let us drink 1 Rorate Coeli (1973) 13.18 for unaccompanied SATB chorus Why wait Words by William Dunbar (1465?-1520?) Why wait we for the torches’ lights? Elizabeth van Os, soprano 1 Aine Hakamatsuka, soprano 2 Now let us drink, while day invites, Suzanne Schwing, alto Alex Guerrero, tenor Paul Holmes, bass In mighty flagons hither bring The deep-red blood of many a vine Missa Brevis (2017) 15.17 That we may largely quaff, and sing for SATB choir and organ The praises of the god of wine, 2 I Kyrie Eleison 1.41 The son of Jove and Semele, 3 II Gloria 5.23 Who gave the jocund wine to be 4 III Sanctus 2.11 A sweet oblivion to our woes. 5 IV Benedictus 2.21 Fill, fill the goblet, one and two; 6 V Agnus Dei 3.44 Let every brimmer, as it flows, Aine Hakamatsuka, soprano 1 & 3 Elizabeth van Os, soprano 2 In sportive chase the last pursue. Michael Steinberger, tenor Nicholas Hay, bass Solo Quartet: XII. EGYPTIAN Full chorus Elizabeth van Os, Donna Breitzer, Michael Steinberger, Steven Moore Excerpt from Song of the Harper Papyrus Harris 500 (c. 1539 - 1075 BC). 'The Voices of Our Ancestors' (2014) 35.21 Enjoy thyself more than thou hast ever done before, 7 I The Creation Hymn 6.54 And let not thy heart pine for lack of pleasure. II Time 8 III The Royal Crown 9.02 Never shall the cries of grief cause IV from the Zoroaster To beat again the heart of man who is in his grave. V Inscription on the City of Brass 9 VI You will die 11.42 Therefore occupy thyself with thy pleasure daily, VII The Gift of Speech And never cease to enjoy thyself VIII Dido’s Lament IX The Desolate City SRCD 387 2 SRCD 387 23 Speak, O desolate city! Speak, O silence in sadness! Where is she that I loved in my strength, that spoke to my soul? 10 X Age 7.37 Where are those passionate eyes that appealed to My eyes in passion? XI Let us drink Where is the mouth that kissed me, the breast that I laid to my own? XII The Song of the Harper Sarah Griffiths, soprano Sishel Claverie, alto Therefore Earth is dark to me, the sunlight blackness, Chad Kranak, tenor Elijah Blaisdell, bass Therefore I go in tears and alone, by night and day; Therefore I find no love in Heaven, no light, no beauty, Total playing time 63.54 A Heaven taken by storm, where none are left but the slain! X. GREEK Baritone solo with SA chorus The New York Virtuoso Singers Age by Anacreon (6th century BC). conducted by Harold Rosenbaum Oft am I by the women told, “Poor Anacreon! Thou grow’st old: with Look! how thy hairs are falling all;” - Whether I grow old or no, The American Brass Quintet By the effects I do not know; Kevin Cobb, trumpet Louis Hanzlik, trumpet But this I know, without being told, Eric Reed, horn Michael Powell, trombone ’Tis time to live, if I grow old; John D. Rojak, bass trombone ’tis time short pleasure now to take, Of little life the best to make, Tadeusz von Moltke, narrator And manage wisely the last stake. James Adams, organ (Rorate Coeli & ‘The Voices of Our Ancestors’) David Enlow, organ (Missa Brevis) Rorate Coeli and ‘The Voices of Our Ancestors’ were recorded live during the composer’s 90th birthday celebration concert on 27 May 2018 at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York. Recording engineer Adam Abeshouse Missa Brevis was recorded live at Advent Lutheran Church, NYC, 13 April 2019. Recording Engineer Evan Zierk Cover image : The Royal lion hunt reliefs from the Assyrian palace at Nineveh c.645-635 BC SRCD 387 22 SRCD 387 3 You have wine and food; The New York Virtuoso Singers Why not play daily on your lute, That you may enjoy yourself now And lengthen your days? Sopranos Tenors By and by you will die, Megan Brunning Nathaniel Adams And another will take your place. Megan Chartrand Christopher Carter Sarah Griffiths Joseph Demarest VII. PERSIAN Soprano solo with TB Aine Hakamatsuka Alex Guerrero The Gift of Speech from the Gulistan by Sa’di (1194-1292). Chloe Holgate John Kawa Danya Katok Chad Kranak Today thou hast the gift of speech so let us hear thy words. Elizabeth Van Os Matthew Krenz Tomorrow death will summon thee Robert May And thou wilt leave us, unheard. Altos Michael Steinberger Donna Breitzer VIII. LATIN Mezzo soprano solo Brooke Collins Basses Dido’s Lament by Virgil (70 – 19 BC). Adapted from The Aeneid Sishel Claverie Isaac Assor Katherine Emory David Baldwin Even when I am gone Catherine Hedberg Jordan Barrett I shall be at your side. Even when cold death has taken me Helen Karloski Elijah Blaisdell I will haunt you with towering flames. Erin Kemp Blake Burroughs Wherever you go my ghost will follow. Margaret O’Connell Jonathan Estabrooks Suzanne Schwing Nicholas Hay IX. ARABIC Tenor solo with SA chorus Paul Holmes The Desolate City (excerpt), anon Arabian (c. 8th century). Steven Moore John Rose Dark to me is the earth, Dark to me are the heavens. Where is she that I loved, the woman with eyes like stars? Desolate are the streets. Desolate is the city, Contractor Nancy Wertsch A city taken by storm, where none are left but the slain. SRCD 387 4 SRCD 387 21 O sons of men, Thea Musgrave was born on 27 May 1928 in Barnton, Midlothian, Scotland. Music was Lean death perches upon your shoulder an important part of her childhood and she recalls that she was ‘always composing little Looking down into your cup of wine, snatches of this and that’.1 She entered the University of Edinburgh as a pre-medical Looking down on the breasts of your lady. student with a view to becoming a doctor, but her attention soon turned to music. You are caught in the web of the world During her undergraduate years she studied piano, harmony and analysis under Mary And the spider. Nothing waits behind it. Gardner Grierson and counterpoint, music history and composition with the Where are the men with towering hopes? distinguished Austrian-born composer Hans Gál. Musgrave recalled that Gál ‘taught us They have changed places with owls, “strict” counterpoint – never used any books, just out of his head straight on the Owls who live in tombs blackboard’.2 While at Edinburgh University she won the prestigious Donald Francis And now inhabit the palace. Tovey Prize. However though she never even had the chance to meet Tovey (1875-1940), she regarded him as one of her most important teachers. Through him she learned to plan VI. CHINESE SATB plus semichorus carefully the overall musical journey her work could take and to explore the concept of You Will Die from the Shi King or Book of Odes, anon Chinese (compiled c. 500 BC). ‘long term harmonic planning’. Following graduation in 1950, a scholarship took her to Paris, where she studied for four You have coats and robes, years as a private pupil of Nadia Boulanger, one of the most influential teachers of But you do not trail them; composition in the twentieth century. She also attended Boulanger’s class at the You have chariots and horses, Conservatoire which was supposedly about accompanying: however ‘we never did any But you do not ride them. accompanying on the piano, but it was so much more. We did score reading, figured bass, By and by you will die, transposition, and, of course, [studied] Stravinsky. It was a wonderful general music And another will enjoy them. education’.3 After having completed the first two years of her studies in Paris, Musgrave received the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize in composition. You have courtyards and halls, But they are not sprinkled and swept; In 1954 she returned to London and soon established a reputation as a key figure in You have bells and drums, British musical life. In 1970 she was briefly a Guest Professor at the University of But they are not struck. California, Santa Barbara, replacing a colleague who was on sabbatical. There she met By and by you will die, Peter Mark, at that point a violist, later becoming head of the Virginia Opera for some And another will possess them. thirty five years. They married the following year. Since 1975 she has lived in America, serving as Distinguished Professor at Queen's College, City University of New York from September 1987 to 2002. Among other honours, she has been the recipient of two 1 William Bender, ‘The Musgrave Ritual – Romancing the Woman Who Wasn’t There, Time, 10 October 1977, p.72. 2 Hans Heinsheimer, ‘Miss Musgrave’, Opera News, 42 (September 1977), p.44. 3 Jane Weiner LePage, Women Composers, Conductors, and Musicians of the Twentieth Century: Selected Biographies (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1980), p.147. SRCD 387 20 SRCD 387 5 Guggenheim Fellowships and in 2018 she was presented with the Ivors Classical Music IV. PERSIAN Soprano solo Award, the Queen’s Medal for Music and a Royal Medal from the Royal Society of Excerpt from The Sacred Book 7th Century BC by Zoroaster. Edinburgh. Thea Musgrave was made a CBE in January 2002. This I ask thee-tell it to me truly, Lord! Frequently dramatic, her music often incorporates physical movement. Some examples Who the Sire was, Father first of Holiness? avoid pictorial elements, such as the Concerto for Clarinet (1968), the Horn Concerto Who the pathway for the sun and stars ordained? (1971) and the witty concerto for nine instruments Space Play (1974), while others use Who, through whom is’t moon doth wax and wane again? specific programmatic content such as the Greek legends in Narcissus, for clarinet and This and much else do I long, O God, to know.