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SAB
“Book of Sonnets” (SAB, piano) –A collection in progress:
-A dark overture on a frustrated desire to be noticed
–Lyrical setting, mostly in unison and designed for a beginning choir
–Fast pace celebration of truth in praise
–Lyrical waltz on the futility of restriction
– Stately allegory of a beautiful day’s progression and deterioration
When thou shalt be dispos’d to set me Light
–Love’s perjury in a lyrical octotonic setting
– Commentary on the triumph of time and decay
– Lively piece on how true love makes our frantic ego look kind of silly
– Mutual courtesies dance a stately minuet over the loneliness of absence
– Playful senses give way to an enslaved heart in this fast dance
When I consider everything that Grows
– Nature’s flow grafted to a free-meter cultivated celebration
– Driven argument that both faults & graces may be seductively misused
– Noble lines on the immortality of verse over a hypnotic ostinato
How oft when thou, my Music, music Play’st
– Jazzy valentine for the keyboardist
– Simple piece about the worth of simple, classic beauty
Mine eye hath play’d the Painter
– A quick march chiding technique for missing the whole point
– Love worthy of a sinuous lullaby keeps love awake
What is your Substance? (Baritone solo, SAB, piano)
–Other beauties are just shadows in this Blues-inspired call & response
– Celebration of love that is without a need for the perfect word
That time of Year (SAB a cappella)
– Sparse setting of a beautiful sonnet on old age
– Predictions of a reluctant lover’s fate set to a spirited proclamation
– March from fantasy into reality; mostly in unison
– Little grotesque dance on the injustice of an evil reputation
– A very lyrical dance of timelessness
– Race of counterpoint likened to progeny
– A gentle dismissal of a lover’s faults becomes a confession of self-guilt
As a decrepit father takes Delight
– Swinging little piece with interdental fricatives
Is it thy Will? (SAB a cappella)
– Waking self-aware from a flowing dream
– Lovely lies of absolute love’s unspoken fear
– Madrigal on the frustration of a loyal, unrequited love
What’s in the Brain (SSAATB a cappella)
– Repetitive rhythms and a rich texture help transform Old Love to First Love
– Flowing, lyrical dedication of spirit
– Time’s weariness is overcome by contract in this stately tresillo
But do thy worst to steal thyself Away (Baritone solo, SAB, piano)
– Hymn of assuredness on immortality; with one fatal flaw
– Energetic, witty sonnet on the love life of bankers!
My Love is Strengthened (High Sop. solo, SAB, piano)
– A nightingale’s song about singing a little too much
– A musical field of flowers painted with the nodding lilt of a meter in five
– A lover may rail against decay but an artist creates immortality
– Lyrical comparison of the Bard’s verse to the promises of the self-crowned
No longer mourn for me when I am Dead
– Driven piece on the war between eternal love and eternal memory
– Nothing looks true in this slow, turbulent journey
– Fun little dance mocking hyperbole
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day?
– Flowing, warm setting of the world’s best known sonnet
El Cant dels Ocells [Carol of the Birds] (Short alto solo, SAB, piano)
–Lyrical lines with a very lively piano
Fear no More (SAB)
–Shakespeare’s beautiful lamentation set a cappella
God rest you merry, Gentlemen (SAB)
–Traditional melody set to a quick, shifting meter
Song of the Gardener (SAB, piano)
–Folk-like setting of an allegorical love poem; can be used for Holy Week
Will there really be a “Morning”? (Baritone solo, SAB)
–An unsynchronized setting of Emily Dickinson’s search for hope
SATB (and other mixed chorus voicing)
“Centenary Antiphon”:
1. Pied Beauty (SATB, pipe organ)
-Speckled celebration of God’s imperfect natural world
2. Great God! (Unison, pipe organ)
-Concluding hymn to Nature’s God
Didn’t it Rain (SATB, piano)
– Fun, wild storm for everyone
Gospel of Mrs Sadie (High solo, SATB, piano)
– In memory of the saintly women of the Church
It takes a Village (Various soloists, SMATbB)
– Rhythmic celebration of community
Map of the World (Various soloists, SMATB, piano)
– Funny cantata on the evolution of political geography
“Modern Living” (SMATB) -orig. for 5 voices
1. Mister Gecko
– A tourist completely lost in the Global Village
2. Cave
– Neo-Paleolithic redecorating gets out of control
3. Modern Age
– Apathy is hip when five voices cocoon in technology; Bass solo featured
4. Blue Whale
– The ultimate Holiday gift; Mezzo solo featured
– Energetic look at the economic side of way too much caffeine
– Simple Benediction on walking thru the darkness with the Lord
Take my Hand [an anniversary anthem] (Alto solo, SATB, piano)
–Most of the men’s parts are in unison
What’s in the Brain [from “Book of Sonnets”] (SSAATB a cappella)
– Repetitive rhythms and a rich texture help transform Old Love to First Love
Upper Voices
Emily’s Birds (Unison, piano)
–Three short songs for Children’s Chorus after the poems of Emily Dickinson
“Needlepoint”:
1. Nightingale (SMA, piano)
-Tonal ballad on love and blaming the music
2. Needle’s Eye (SA, piano)
-Fun, little nonsense rag
3. Over Me (SMA, piano)
-Poignant, flowing lullaby
“Posthumous Keats”:
1. A Song of Myself (SA, piano)
-Lyrical, bi-tonal setting of a young runaway’s discovery
2. The Dove (SMA, piano)
–Lyrical piece on misunderstanding a wild heart; set to an octatonic scale
3. Meg Merrilies (SA, piano)
–Celebration of the strange in compound meter
Weary Land (SA, piano)
–Mature, Spiritual lullaby on the suffering of Mary’s fleeing family; orig. for High School age choirs
Lower Voices
His foot on the Treetop (TBB)
–Christmas lullaby with a soft, rich sound
When you were gone I wished you were here (Tenor solo, TBB)
–A soloist against a wordless choir on not having the right words; can be done with a quartet
Zolgotz! (Treble, Cambiata, Baritone, Bass, piano)
From a folk poem on the McKinley assassination; can be done TTBB, piano
Published (by G. Schirmer)
Sky can still Remember (SAB, piano)
–A carol; one of Gray’s favorite works
Boatman Stomp (Treble, Cambiata, Baritone, piano)
–Emmett’s “Boatman Dance” set to new music; a classic festival piece
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