A S T R A C O N C E R T S 2 0 1 8 5 pm, Sunday 10 June CARMELITE CHURCH Middle Park, Melbourne FOR ALL SEASONS Charles Ives FAR O’ER YON HORIZON Keith Humble THUS SAITH THE LORD John J. Becker OUR MOUTH… Robert Carl SWEEPING EAGLE, BLITHE SWAN, BRANCHING OAK WINDING STREAM, DRIFTING CLOUDS COURSING SUN, IT IS THE LAW John J. Becker I TOUCH YOU, YOU QUIVER, KYRIE, SANCTUS Keith Humble FOUR ALL SEASONS Donald Martino I GO WHERE I DO KNOW INFINITIE TO DWELL String Quartet Natasha Conrau, Zachary Johnston, Phoebe Green, Alister Barker The Astra Choir with soloists and instrumental ensemble Natasha Conroy violin, Zachary Johnston violin, Phoebe Green viola, Alister Barker cello Nic Synot double bass, Kim Bastin organ, piano, Calvin Bowman organ vocal soloists Catrina Seiffert, Leonie Thomson, Louisa Billeter Spencer Chapman, Ben Owen, Steven Hodgson, Tim Matthews-Staindl The Astra Choir soprano Julie Melbourne, Irene McGinnigle, Catrina Seiffert, Kim Tan, Leonie Thomson, Jenny Barnes, Louisa Billeter, Jean Evans, Maree Macmillan, Susannah Provan alto Emily Bennett, Gloria Gamboz, Anna Gifford, Katie Richardson, Florence Thomson, Beverley Bencina, Jane Cousens, Joy Lee, Joan Pollock, Aline Scott-Maxwell tenor Spencer Chapman, Stephen Creese, Ben Owen, Richard Webb, Greg Deakin, Simon Johnson, Dylan Nicholson bass Peter Dumsday, Robert Franzke, Steven Hodgson, Tim Matthews-Staindl, Chris Smith, John Terrell, John Mark Williams John McCaughey conductor In Australia as in other countries, a generation of composers born in the 1920s rose to prominence in the 1960s as the voice of post-war music, joined by younger arrivals in generating the musical heritage of the late century. Of this group, Keith Humble (1927–1995) was the most international in outlook, with a musical life played out between Australia, France and the USA. In both the latter countries he celebrated the diversity of artistic and cultural impulses, rather than the more singular influences that are common among composers. Astra’s first concert of the 2018 season placed his ‘Opus One’, the String Trio of 1953 – a product of his teaching in Paris by the Schoenberg disciple René Leibowitz – in a European context of the related Germanic chamber-music tradition, but also alongside the music-theatre of Mauricio Kagel, typifying the post-Dadaist atmosphere also current in that mid-century era, another influence on the constant gesture and play in Humble’s music. Today’s concert moves 36 years forward, to Humble’s string quartet Four All Seasons of 1989. Here the program context is all-American, but again with varied impulses from that cultural environment. In this quartet and its precursor work for choir, A.C.C.J. from 1979, the discursive fabric of chamber-music, the art of changing phrases and configurations, is replaced by a single ‘thing’, a continuous entity, sub-titled ‘mouvement’ in both cases. The idea of a sustained moment, whether static or with a sense of ceaseless motion, emerged from American composers in the experimental tradition, such as Humble’s colleagues at U.C. San Diego, Robert Erickson and Pauline Oliveros. Their explorations of drones as fundamental musical states have roots in various traditions of world music, including Australia’s Aboriginal culture. A second factor, however, comes from the other American coast, the exploration of 12-tone music beyond the mechanistic notion of the “tone-row”. Contemporaneous with these Humble compositions, George Perle’s book Twelve- Tone Tonality laid out the geometries of continuous interval cycles that Alban Berg had explored as early as Wozzeck – and which are also found, consciously or not, in the advanced compositions of Charles Ives. Music may be specially placed among the arts to express intimations of the eternal, but there are parallels with the infinite geometric variations expressed in, for example, the paintings of Robert Hunter currently on display at the NGV at Federation Square. Essential to both these Humble scores is that they do not exist as one finite form, but lay out infinite choices for performance versions. The title A.C.C.J. spells in French the notes of its underlying drone, but also means ‘A Choral Chance for John’ – a continuous invitation to the Astra Choir and me to realize it in different ways, from charts of diverging and converging chromatic lines, which follow many possible routes and combinations to merge with the drone at the close. Four All Seasons can be realized by multiple string quartets or even string orchestras. Its spiralling ‘stretches’ of music exploit for the first time the “Humble transform” – his own invented cyclical system in the universe of 12 tones, with which he planned many new works at the time of his death a few years later, at the age of 67. The continuously shifting harmonies of the chorus and quartet represent different states of expression – more charged in the case of the string quartet, whose score is marked to be played softly but with ‘an extreme intensity’. Charles Ives (1874–1954) was a founding figure of the spirit of adventure in modern American music, independent of European models. He helped to re-define the nature of musical ‘occurrence’, with overlaid ‘musics’ that seem to place human activity within the expanse of Nature and eternity. [NOTES CONTINUED ON BACK COVER… ] 2 PROGRAM John J. Becker Nunc Sancte nobis Spritus (undated fragment) 4-part choir text by St Ambrose, 4th C Keith Humble A. C. C. J. Mouvement for choir (1979) multiple choral groups Charles Ives The Celestial Country (1899) Cantata for soloists, choir, string quintet & organ text by Henry Alford, 1865 I N T E R V A L Robert Carl Sullivan Songs (1983/93) soloists and choir texts by Louis Sullivan, 1918 I. The Lake II. The City III. The Law John J. Becker The Pool (1924) women’s chorus & piano poem by H.D., 1915 Missa symphonica (1933) male chorus I. Kyrie IV. Sanctus V. Agnus Dei Keith Humble Four All Seasons, Mouvement perpétuel (1989) string quartet Donald Martino Pious Pieces (1971) choir with piano poems by Robert Herrick, 1647 I. To the ever-loving God II. Mercy and Love III. The Soule IV. Teares – To Death – Welcome what comes V. Eternitie 3 John J. Becker NUNC SANCTE NOBIS SPRITUS (undated fragment) Nunc, Sancte nobis Spiritus, Now for us Holy Spirit, Unum Patri cum Filio, one with the Father and the Son Dignare promptus ingeri deign to be poured swiftly Nostro refusus pectori. into our hearts with holiness. Os… Our mouth… – attr. St Ambrose of Milan (4th C.) Keith Humble A. C. C. J. Mouvement for choir (1979) Thus saith the Lord our God Charles Ives THE CELESTIAL COUNTRY (1899) Introduction before No.1 (organ) No. 1. Prelude, Trio and Chorus Far o'er yon horizon rise city towers Where our God abideth; that fair home is ours: Flash the streets with jasper, shine the gates with gold; Flows the gladd'ning river shedding joys untold. Thither, onward, thither, in the spirit's might; Pilgrims to your country, forward into light! Into God's high temple onward as we press Beauty spreads around us born of holiness. Arch and vault and carving, (lights of varied tone), Softened words and holy, prayer and praise alone. Every thought upraising to our city bright, Where the tribes assemble round the throne of light. Thither, onward, thither, in the spirit's might; Pilgrims to your country, forward into light! Prelude before No.2 (organ) No. 2. Aria (unison voices) Naught that country needeth of these aisles of stone; Where the Godhead dwelleth, temple there is none; All the saints that ever in these courts have stood, Are but babes, and feeding on children's food. On through sign and token, stars amidst the night, On through darkness, forward into light. On through sign and token, stars amidst the night. No. 3. Quartet accompanied (choir) Seek the things before us, not a look behind; Burns the fiery pillar at our army's head; Who shall dream of shrinking by our Captain led? Forward through the desert, through the toil and fight; Jordan flows before us; Zion beams with light. 4 Forward when in childhood buds the infant mind; All through youth and manhood, not a thought behind. Speed through realms of nature, climb the paths of grace; Faint not, till in glory gleams our Father's face. Forward all through lifetime, climb from height to height, Till the head be hoary, till the eve be light. Forward through the desert, through the toil and fight; Jordan flows before us; Zion beams with light. On through youth and manhood, till our Father’s face in glory gleams. Seek the things before us, not a look behind; Burns the fiery pillar at our army's head; Seek the paths of grace, till the eve be light. Interlude before No.4 (cello and organ) No. 4. Intermezzo for string quartet Interlude after No.4 (cello and organ) No. 5. Double Quartet, a cappella (Solo quartet and choir) Glories on glories hath our Lord prepared, By the souls that love him one day to be shared; Eye hath not beheld them, ear hath never heard; Nor of these hath uttered thought or speech a word; Glories on glories hath our Lord prepared. Forward marching eastward, where the heav'n is bright, Till the veil be lifted, till our faith be sight. No. 6. Aria for Tenor Forward, flock of Jesus, salt of all the earth, Till each yearning purpose spring to glorious birth; Sick, they ask for healing, blind, they grope for day; Pour upon the nations wisdom's loving ray. Forward out of error, leave behind the night; Forward out of darkness, forward into light.