AMERICAN VOICES John Alexander Singers John Alexander, conductor Lauridsen • Dello Joio • Whitacre Warland • Muehleisen Gregorio • Rickelton • Orfe 1 0 13491 347325 AMERICAN VOICES On the Beauty of Song: On Nature: DALE WARLAND: NORMAN DELLO JOIO: 1. Always Singing (2:42) 10. The Bluebird † (4:41) MORTEN LAURIDSEN: JOHN MUEHLEISEN: 2. Chanson Éloignée (5:20) Two River Nocturnes Aram Barsamian, baritone 11. Prairie Waters by Night (5:44) 12. River Moons (7:00) On Love and Loss: ERIC WHITACRE: MORTEN LAURIDSEN: 13. Little Birds † (3:26) 3. O Love, Be Fed With Apples 14. Water Night (4:31) While You May † (2:10) On the Adventure of Life: JOSEPH GREGORIO: Love, thricewise § JOHN ORFE: 4. Liquor and lacquer (1:28) 15. Fire! * § (5:28) 5. An amethyst remembrance (2:24) Carver Cossey, bass; Maria Cristina 6. Kinsfolk (1:50) Navarro, soprano MICHAEL RICKELTON: NORMAN DELLO JOIO: 7. Pentecost § (6:12) 16. Song of the Open Road * † (8:40) JOHN MUEHLEISEN: Total time: 77:11 8. Snow (The King’s Trumpeter) * (5:02) 9. When All Is Done * (9:28) John Alexander Singers John Alexander, conductor § World Premiere Recordings Barry Perkins, trumpet * David Clemensen, piano † 24 — On the Beauty of Song — sure. But I have forgotten one thing—the singing. So I lie; I have had pleasure. I have Always Singing had singing.” The piece is also reflective of Dale Warland (b. 1932) the composer’s early life; growing up on a farm in Iowa, Warland identifies with sing- Singing, I have had singing, ing as part of daily life, in school, church such a lot of singing, (listen for O God Our Help in Ages Past, the and this was my pleasure too. chime of the chapel bells in Akenfield), and The boys all sang in the fields, and at as a family. This composition is a reminder night we all sang. of the importance of building community The chapels were full of singing. through singing together. It was singing all the time. — Dale Warland I have had pleasure. I have had singing. Always Singing is published by Graphite Pub- Text by Fred Mitchell, paraphrased by the lishing. www.graphitepublishing.com composer Chanson Éloignée The text of Always Singing is a paraphrase Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) (by the composer) of a quote found in Ronald Blythe’s 1969 bestseller Akenfield: Ce soir mon coeur fait chanter Portrait of an English Village. The book con- des anges qui se souviennent… sists of interviews with the townspeople of Une voix, presque mienne, a village in East Suffolk, 90 miles north of par trop de silence tentée, London, including an 85-year-old retired farmer named Fred Mitchell. As a pov- monte et se décide erty-stricken horseman, his life was very à ne plus revenir; difficult, even to the point of being forced tendre et intrépide, to choose between feeding or clothing his à quoi va-t-elle s’unir? children. He said, “There was nothing in Ô chant éloigné, suprême lyre, my childhood, only work. I never had plea- qui ne se donne qu’à celui qui ardemment 2 et sans repos supporte et endure Text by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926); de son effort le long et doux martyre, translation by Diana Rand Fairclough Ô chant qui naît le dernier pour conclure l’enfance non terminée, le coeur d’antan. When Maestro Alexander and his mag- nificent Pacific Chorale, who have cham- Où je ne voulais que chanter, pioned my work over the years, asked il m’a été accordé if I would compose a short a cappella l’honneur de la vie… piece celebrating music for the inaugu- ral concert in the new Renée and Henry Tonight my heart makes Segerstrom Concert Hall, I once again angels sing, remembering… turned to the poetry of Rainer Maria Ril- A voice, nearly mine, ke. While known principally for his Ger- enticed by too much silence, man poems, including the astonishing Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, rises and decides Rilke also composed over 400 French po- never to return; ems, most written in the Swiss village of tender and brave, Muzot during the last two years of his with what will it unite? life, from 1924–1926. I previously chose five of these poems for my choral cycle, O distant song, lyre supreme, Les Chansons des Roses, and also includ- giving itself only to one who fervently ed his poem, Sa Nuit d’Été, as the first of and without rest bears and endures my recent Nocturnes. Rilke’s stunningly the long sweet martyrdom of your endeavor, beautiful texts for Chanson Éloignée will O song born last to complete resonate deeply with all singers every- the unended childhood, yesterday’s heart. where—the yearning of a heart for song and for love, and what it means to be giv- When all I wanted was to sing, en the gift of singing. I was granted — Morten Lauridsen the honor of living. Chanson Éloignée is published by Peermusic Classical. www.peermusicclassical.com. 3 — On Love and Loss — sion of my Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves, commissioned by the Uni- O Love, Be Fed with Apples While versity of Southern California to celebrate You May its centennial in 1980. Maestro Alexander, Morten Lauridsen the Pacific Chorale and Pacific Symphony Orchestra brilliantly performed the full cy- O Love, be fed with apples while you may, cle at Segerstrom Hall some years ago. Re- And feel the sun and go in royal array, quiring a very skilled pianist, this exuber- A smiling innocent on the heavenly ant, jazz-tinged and highly canonic setting causeway, of “O Love” has been recorded by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under the ba- Though in what listening horror for the ton of Vance George. cry — Morten Lauridsen That soars in outer blackness dismally, The dumb blind beast, the paranoiac fury: O Love, Be Fed With Apples While You May is published by Opus Music Publishers. www. Be warm, enjoy the season, lift your opusmusicpublishers.com. head, Exquisite in the pulse of tainted blood, That shivering glory not to be despised. Love, thricewise Joseph Gregorio (b. 1979) Take your delight in momentariness, Winner, Pacific Chorale’s Young Walk between dark and dark—a shining Composers Competition (2010) space With the grave’s narrowness, though not I. Liquor and lacquer its peace. If I were only dafter Text by Robert Graves (1895–1985) I might be making hymns To the liquor of your laughter “O Love Be Fed With Apples While You And the lacquer of your limbs. May” is a movement from the original ver- 4 But you turn across the table Was’t so with you, O Love and Scorn? A telescope of eyes, And it lights a Russian sable Sweet eyes that smiled, Running circles in the skies… Now wet and wild: O Eye and Tear — mother and child. Till I go running after, Obeying all your whims — Well: Love and Pain For the liquor of your laughter Be kinsfolk twain; And the lacquer of your limbs. Yet would, Oh would I could love again. Text by Witter Bynner (1881–1968) Text by Sidney Lanier (1842–1881) II. An amethyst remembrance Love, thricewise illuminates three moods of a lover. The first movement, “Liquor I held a jewel in my fingers and lacquer,” sets Witter Bynner’s “Opus 6” And went to sleep. and musically depicts infatuation through The day was warm, and winds were prosy; flighty changes of meter and sudden shifts I said: “‘T will keep.” of mode. The second, entitled “An ame- thyst remembrance” and based on a poem I woke and chid my honest fingers, — by Emily Dickinson, is regretful, slowly The gem was gone; building to an anguished climax and wist- And now an amethyst remembrance fully fading away. Finally, “Kinsfolk” takes Is all I own. Sidney Lanier’s “A Song of Love” as its text. It is both a lighthearted reflection on the Text by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) paradoxical and complementary relation- ship between love and pain, and a pining III. Kinsfolk for love. The first two stanzas of “Kinsfolk” pit the tenors and basses, who deliver the Hey, rose, just born first stanza’s melody, against the sopranos Twin to a thorn; and altos, who answer in the second stan- za with the same melody in a key a tritone 5 away from that of the first. The third stan- Comfort me with stones. Quench my za is a fugato on the same melody, culmi- thirst with sand. nating in a fervid fortissimo. I offer you this scarred and guilty hand — Joseph Gregorio Until others mix our ashes. Love, thricewise is published by the National Col- Text by Dana Gioia (b. 1950) legate Choral Organization, www.ncco-usa.org Gioia’s work has become a great source of personal inspiration. His texts are Pentecost often engaging accounts of the human Michael Rickelton (b. 1983) experience, expressing universal and Co-winner, Pacific Chorale’s Young complex emotions expertly captured in Composers Competition (2012) verse. Gioia’s “Pentecost,” written after the death of his young son, is a gripping Neither the sorrows of afternoon, waiting reflection on tragedy and loss. Supremely in the silent house, painful and heartrending, this poem is Nor the night no sleep relieves, when filled with powerful imagery and pointed memory text. As in many of his works, the sound Repeats its prosecution. of Gioia’s word choice and phrasing lends itself to a musical pairing. Nor the morning’s ache for dream’s — Michael Rickelton illusion, nor any prayers Improvised to an unknowable god Can extinguish the flame.