Com munity Concert Association

Transcription

1 The Com munity Concert Association. presents, THE DALEWARLAND SINGERS DALE WARLAND', Conductor COMMUNITY CONCERTS a division of COLUMBIA ARTISTS Management Inc. 165 West 57th Street, New York, N.Y Season

2 Program (Please hold applause until the end of each section during the first half of this evenings program. Thank you.) THREE AMERICAN MADRIGALS The Uncertainty of the Poet Cary john Franklin 10 Son la Primavera (I am Spring) William Hawley Of Crows and Clusters Norman Delio loio II RELIGIOUS MOTETS Vere languores nostros Tomas Luis de Victoria Geistliches Lied (Op, 30) johannes Brahms Ave Verum Corpus Imant Ramish III MUSIC OF OUR TIME Snowforms R. Murray Schafer Kasar Mie La Gaji (Venezuela) Alberto Grau Intermission

3 FRAGMENTS IV FROM THE MASS Kyrie (from "A Thanksgiving Mass") Knut Nystedt Gloria (from "Missa Misericordiae") Egil Hovland Agnus Dei (from "Mass") Vincent Persichetti V Selections from The Warland Cabaret Singers (To be announced from the stage.) VI FOLK MUSIC Cindy American (Carol Barnett) Eskimo Hunting Song Canadian (Derek Healey) Le Pont Mirabeau Sing A Song of Sixpence French-Canadian (Lionel Daunais) English (John Rutter) lithe AUDIENCE IS RESPECTFULLY REMINDED THAT RECORDING OF THIS PERFORMANCE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED" THE DALE WARLAND SINGERS 120 North Fourth Street Minneapolis, Minnesota

4 Program Notes and Texts By Brian Newhouse The Uncertainty of the Poet From: With a Poet's Eye: A Cycle of Five Songs (1987) Cary John Franklin (b. 1956) I am a poet. Fond of Am I bananas? I am very fond of bananas. Am I? - a very poet. I am bananas. I am very fond of bananas. I am a poet of bananas. Iam very fond. A fond poet of I am. I am - Very bananas. Bananas of a poet! Am I fond? Am I very? Poet bananas! I am. I am fond of a very. I am of very fond bananas. Am I a poet? Cary John Franklin began his musical studies at the age of five, studying accordion in his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That's an uncommon instrument for a youngster, but it must've served him well. Today, he's the Chorus Master of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Music Director of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, and sits on the Minnesota Composer's Forum Board of Directors. He has a sparkling eye and bright red hair - which fit him perfectly; you'll know why after listening to this short funny piece. 10 Son la Primavera (I am Spring) From: Six Madrigals (1985) William Hawley (b. 1950) I am Spring, who gladly, lovely women, returns to you with my beautiful, embellished mantle to dress the countryside in greenery and flowers and to arouse in your hearts new loves. For me Zephir sighs, for me the earth laughs, and so the serene heavens; from breast to breast fly the charm ing Amoretti by the thousands, armed with arrows and with torches. An you, again delighted, Take pleasure in my coming amidst laughing and song; Love your lovers now, while April adorns lovely faces with flowers; Spring for you will not return forever. Trained as a singer, William Hawley says he writes "from the heart," and - ask any of The Dale Warland Singers - his vocal music is as beautiful to sing as it is to hear. This native New Yorker is also a linguist (5 languages) and he's set these Italian words (I am Springtime) as naturally as a native. His musical language is that of jazz - 2nds and 9ths and 7ths - but he couches these intervals so lushly that there's a classical beauty, even a sense of antiquity to his score. Of Crows and Clusters (1972) Norman Delio lolo (b. 1913) This nonsensical text dates from the turn of the century, when poet Vachel Lindsay, like many Americans, was enamored of fantasies like "Alice in Wonderland." Here, we've two bumbling black birds- sitting on a fence. "Thinking of cause and effect... effect and cause, and of nature's laws." One of them stutters, the other mutters, a bee buzzes by and scares them both off, and that's that. Don't look for ultimate meaning here, but enjoy the wit and snap of a great composer sporting with a goofy poem. Vere languores nostros (1572) Tomas Luis de Victoria (b d. 1611) Surely he hath born our griefs and carried And with his stripes we are healed. our sorrows.

5 Sweetest wood, and sweetest iron, sweetest weight is hung on thee. Thou alone wast counted worthy this world's ransom to uphold. The Spaniard Victoria traveled to Rome as a fifteen year old to study for the priesthood, and, surprisingly, discovered there an audience eager to hear his motets. He eventually did become a priest but spent most of his career writing music exclusively for the church - in a style considered today to be the pinnacle of Renaissance mysticism. "Vere languores nostros" was in his first collection of published pieces, brought out in his twenty-fourth year. Its dark melancholy makes it especially effective for the Holy Week services for which it was intended. Geistliches Lied (Op. 30) johannes Brahms (b d. 1897) Let trouble never move you or grieve you, but bear it; what God has sent be' your delight, my spirit. Why contemplate with sorrow tomorrow? His action makes all things new and gives to you your portion. Be strong in all temptation and passion, not ceasing; what God ordains, that still remains your blessing. This quiet, dignified work dates from 1856, the year Brahms' idol Robert Schumann died, and the year before Brahms began his masterpiece - "A German Requiem." Perhaps' the opus 30 helped assuage the young man's grief, perhaps it helped him prepare for the larger, similar-sounding Requiem. Whatever his motivation, he poured an uncommon amount of heart into these four minutes of music, giving special attention even to the final "Amen": it builds to a lovely blossoming climax, then settles into the same restful mood that characterizes much of the "Requiem.." Ave Verum Corpus Imant Raminsh (b. 1943) Hail, true body, born of the Virgin Mary, Who has tru Iy suffered, was sacrificed on the cross for mortals. Whose side was pierced, whence flowed water and blood. Be for us a foretaste (of heaven) during our final examining, o lesu sweet, 0 lesu pure, o lesu, Son of Mary, have mercy upon me. Amen. Many of this Canadian composer's choral works have been written for the Vancouver Chamber Choir, including this setting of the traditional Communion text. Raminsh shuns novelty here, and gives these words a simple, yet deeply reverent music. Snowforms (1983) R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933) R. Murray Schafer has led Canada's musical avant-garde for years. He writes: "It has been the habit of observing the soft foldings of snow from my farmhouse window in Ontario that inspired 'Snowforms'. Sometimes I have given children sight-singing exercises in which they are asked to 'sing' drawings. Thus, in 'Snowforms' - which is really intended for children to sing, listen to and perhaps draw pictures to - a graphic notation is used, augmented by pitches, written close to the lines. A time log is given to suggest durations. The words which alternate with the humming are some of the many Eskimo words for snow (i.e. first snowfall, soft snow, falling snow, snow like salt, etc.)" Kasar Me La Gaji (1990) Alberto Grau (b. 1938) Alberto Grau is Venezuela's leading choral conductor and composer, and in recent years has increasingly championed environmental causes. This score is a lament for the earth, and a howling indictment against those who spoil her. The men begin chanting quietly the

6 words of the African Sahel (The earth is tired) in a death-march rhythm. Falling protamentos at the end of each phrase cement that feeling of fatigue. The women enter, and the music soon turns militant, getting louder and faster, till a crashing climax leads back to that initial song of sadness. But not for long. Grau is angry, and directs the singers to clap their hands, stamp their feet, hiss and scream to get the point across: 'The Earth is tired!" Fragments from the Mass The mind continually seeks order and form, and, not surprisingly, humans have codified the natural urge to worship. The Roman Catholic Church developed and standardized the many parts of the Mass in the several hundred years after jesus Christ, whose life, death \ and resurrection are celebrated in the service of the Eucharist. Since the Middle Ages, musical settings of the Mass have been crucial for the development of not only a vital expression of faith, but for music's evolution as well. Our greatest musical minds - [osquin, Palestrina, Bach, Schubert, Stravinsky - have all tackled these ageless texts and moved Western music forward. Kyrie (1974) Knut Nystedt (b. 1915) The Mass begins with a cry for mercy that has its roots in both pagan antiquits and Old Testament judaism. The Norwegian Knut Nystedt's 1074 setting is an emotional three-part work which opens with women's voices moving in swift currents of pleading (Lord have mercy); the powerful middle section (Christ have mercy) is built of the most basic blocks in music - the intervals of a perfect fourth and fifth; the closing "Kyrie eleison" is tranquil, filled with the repose of divine assurance. Gloria (1973) Egil Hovland (b. 1927) Egil Hovland is a leading figure in Norway's choral and liturgical circles. His setting of this early Christian praise text (Glory be to God on high) comes from 1973, and it bristles with rhythmic and harmonic energy. Agnus Dei (1960) Vincent Persichetti (b d. 1987) Throughout his life, Persichetti confounded those who would pigeon-hole him: first as a teacher at juilliard, then as head of a large music publishing house, then as conductor of college. choruses. He scored equal successes in each. As a composer he moved just as easily between traditional and avant-garde styles," always maintaining his Italianate love for melody. You'll hear that lyricism throughout his 1969 setting of "Agnus Dei" (Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world), the quiet close of the mass. Le Pont Mirabeau (The Mirabeau Bridge) Under the Mirabeau bridge the Seine runs I must remind myself of our loves; joy came always after struggle; night comes, the loon sounds the days disappear, I remain. Love flows away like this running Love flows away like life is slow and like hope is violent night comes, the hour sounds, the day disappears, I remain. water Days pass, and weeks pass, Neither the past nor loves return. Under the Mirabeau bridge runs the Seine. Night comes, the hour sounds, the days disappear, I remain.

7 THE DALE WARLAND SINGERS Founded in 1972, The Dale War/and Singers have become one of the world's premier professional choral ensembles. Based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the chorus has gained countless fans from twenty years of concert tours, festival appearances, radio broadcasts and sixteen critically acclaimed recordings. Regarded as leaders in the performance of twentieth century choral music, Dr. War/and and The Singers performed at The Second World Symposium on Choral Music in August 1990 in Sweden and Finland. As the sole North American choir in residence at the festival, the ensemble presented concerts featuring American choral works, and joined with_ other leading choirs from around the world in a series of workshops, concerts and broadcast activities. The concerts were broadcast live on Swedish and Finnish radio and television and later were distributed by the Symposium for international broadcast in the Soviet Union, North and South America, Asia and Africa. Noted for performing a vast repertoire of a cappella music, The Singers inspire audiences with programs ranging from the great choral classics to American folk songs and vocal jazz. With a special focus on the works of living American composers, the organization is committed to providing increasing opportunities for composers and to keeping the choral genre fresh and alive with new musical ideas. Regular commissioning projects have involved such composers as Dominick Argento, George Shearing, Mary Ellen Childs, and Peter Schickele. In addition, as one of the first choral ensembles to receive a National Endowment for the Arts Composer-in-Residence grant, The Dale War/and Singers recently appointed Minnesota composer Stephen Paulus to serve as its composer-in-residence. The Dale War/and Singers perform an annual subscription series in the Twin Cities and tour extensively throughout the Upper Midwest and other parts of the United States. The group has also toured internationally and has been broadcast over German, Swedish and Finnish state radio. The ensemble can be heard frequently on American Public Radio's "St. Paul Sunday Morning" as well as rebroadcasts of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion." The 1990 Dale War/and Singers "Echoes of Christmas" concert was carried by 177 public radio stations and reached an estimated seven million listeners. As The Dale War/and Singers celebrates its twentieth season, it continues to be committed to setting a national example of choral excellence through its ambitious programming, commissioning projects, and performances of new music by today's composers. For additional information about The Dale War/and Singers call or write: The Dale War/and Singers, 120 North Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401; 612/ DALE WARLAND Founder and Music Director Dale War/and has devoted his professional life to attaining the highest musical level in choral singing. Consummate musicianship and attention to detail have been Dr. War/and's tools in building one of the finest choral groups in the country: The Dale War/and Singers. Under War/and's leadership, the ensemble has thrilled choral music lovers not just in their Twin Cities home, but throughout North America and Europe. Tours, radio broadcasts and fifteen recordings have won Dr. Warland and The Singers countless fans wor/dwide. In addition to his active schedule as music director of The Dale War/and Singers, War/and is in demand as a guest conductor, lecturer and composer. He has guest conducted such groups as the Swedish Radio Choir, Danish Radio Choir, Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Israel's Cameran Singers. In August of 1990/ Dr. War/and prepared the chorus for performances of the Penderecki's Polish Requiem as part of The Second Wor/d Symposium on Choral Music in Sweden and Finland. A member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), War/and is a former co-chair of the choral and recording panels of the National Endowment for the Arts. In June 1988, he was named Choral Advisor to Oxford University Press, U.S.A. In this capacity, Dr. Warland is assisting with the expansion of the Oxford American choral list and will create a Dale War/and Choral Series. Dr. Warland is a recipient of major grants from the Ford Foundation, the Bush Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. He has served as professor of music at Macalester College, and recently received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Olaf College as well as the Outstanding Alumnus award from the University of Southern California. Dr. War/and's advanced degrees include a master's degree from the University of Minnesota and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California.

8 JERRY RUBINO Assistant Director, The Dale War/and Singers Music Director, The Cabaret Singers Jerry Rubino attended the Curtis Institute of Music as a cellist and holds degrees in piano, music education and conducting from Temple University and the University of Minnesota. An active free-lance musician, Mr. Rubino is regularly featured at the grand piano in Dayton's Department Store, serves as organist and chair director of the Golden Valley United Methodist Church, and often performs in solo and chamber music recitals and with the Minnesota Opera and Minnesota Composers Forum. A published arranger with Jenson and Word, he was named in "Who's Who in Rising Young Americans" in 1989 and frequently serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator. Jerry maintains private voice and piano studios. THE WARLAND CABARET SINGERS Founded in 1983, The Cabaret Singers has quickly gained a devoted following of jazz enthusiasts. Presenting sophisticated renditions of swing era ballads and searing jazz selections the ensemble has thrilled audiences in every performance. Selected from the 40-member Dale Warland Singers, the 12 member Cabaret Singers represent a broad musical spectrum, including voice teachers, big band soloists and free-lance musicians. Under the direction of pianist/conductor Jerry Rubino, The Cabaret Singers has developed its own sound, rich in vocal integrity and virtuosic precision. Whether it's a Gershwin classic or a Broadway show tune, The Cabaret Singers perform with panach and style. Soprano: Janice Hunton Kathy Josselyn Polly Buchanan Jutsum* Julie Ann Olson Deborah J. Osgood Lea Anna Sams-McGowan Marie Spar The Dale Warland Singers Tenor: Brent Benrud Philip W.R. Blackburn Paul Gerike Thomas Larson Steven J. Sandberg Ti mothy Sawyer* Randall Speer Alto: Lisa Barry Patricia Bather Linda Danilewski Joanne Halvorsen* Lynette R. Johnson Anna Mooy* Rachael Dawn Nelson Mary lo Oldakowski Bass Tom James. Jerry johnson" Dan Kallman Iin Kim Arthur LaRue Jerry Rubino Paul Theisen Scott 1. Toperzer *Alternate PIONEER ENTERPRISES, INC. WEST FARGO, N.D. PRINTED IN U.S.A.

9 Program There has been a change to the program and order. The correct program and the program note and text for Jeffrey Van's A Procession Winding Around Me follow. I THREE AMERICAN MADRIGALS The Uncertainty of the Poet 10 Son la Primavera (I am Spring) Of Crows and Clusters -Iere languores nostros Ave Verum Corpus n RELIGIOUS MOTETS m Cary John Franklin William Hawley Norman Dello Joio Thomas Luis da Victoria Imant Raminsh MUSIC OF OUR TIME d A Procession Winding Around Me: Four Civil War Poems of Walt Whitman Jeffrey Van, guitar Jeffrey Van Intermission IV MUSIC OF OUR TIME Snowforms 'Kasar Mie La Gaji (Venezuela) R. Murray Schafer Alberto Grau V Selections from The Dale Warland Cabaret Singers (To be announced from the stage) VI FOLK MUSIC ~indy Eskimo Hunting Song Sing a Song of Sixpence arr. Carol Barnett arr. Derek Healey arr. John Rutter

10 A Procession Winding Around Me: * Four Civil War Poems of Walt Whitman (1991) Jeffrey Van (b. 1941) By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame Beat! Beat! Drums! Look Down Fair Moon Reconciliation, Jeffrey Van, Guitar * Funding assistance for the performance of A Procession Winding Around Me received from The American Choral Works Performance Program of Chorus America. Program Note by Brian Newhouse J A Procession Winding Around Me: Four Civil War Poems of Walt Whitman The guitar in composer Jeffrey Van'slap is spotlighted. Poor thing: in the next eighteen minutes while the singers enjoy lines of 'elegant simplicity, it'll take a literal beating. Two years ago, Van toured the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where, in July 1863, 43,000 lost their lives. He still struggles to describe the profundity of that experience (as do others who visit, for instance, Dachau or the Somme), saying only that there was an "immeasurable, palpable sadness there." Shortly after, he received a commission from the Lancaster, Ohio Festival and began setting these poems, continuing work on them while watching the superb PBS documentary The Civil War. His choice of Whitman was not difficult. No other poet witnessed America's bloodiest 'conflict as closely or wrote of it as strikingly. Whitman, a Yankee, never fired a shot and was only drawn into the War in 1862 when his brother George became wounded. Whitman's visits to that fly-infested Virginia hospital where his brother lay, seared him; for the rest of the War he lived in Washington, regularly visiting the wounded, bearing gifts of conversation.andwriting paper, sometimes even assisting the surgeons. He died 100 years ago, March 26, Van's score describes an arch, starting with the quiet just before battle, rising to the actual fury of battle, then the silence after the guns, and repose again. While the singers tell his story, his guitar makes you feel it. Listen in the second movement foi' the haunting rasp of the snare drum; the strummed strings "above the nut" in the third, and how it 'evokes the brittle silence after Gettysburg or any other killing field; (also, the fantastically eerie men's whistling in the third piece!); and the echo of distant drums in the very last strummed chords. Van's musical picture, drawn in shades of blue and gray, reminds us the next war is always ours to start.

11 1. By the Bivouac's Fitful FI,ame By the bivouac's fitful flame, A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow -~but first I note, The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim outline, The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence,. Like a phantom far ornear an occasional figure moving, The shrubs andtrees, (as 1lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me.) While wind in procession thoughts, 0 tender and wondrous thoughts, Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those that are far away; A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground, By the bivouac's fitful flame. 2. Beat! Beat! Drums! Beat! beat! drums! --blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows--through the doors--burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, Into the school where the scholar is studying;.. Leave not the bridegroom quiet-no happiness must he "havenow with his bride,. Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain, So fierce you whirr and pound you drums--so shrill you bugles blow. Beat! beat! drums! --blow! bugles! blow! Over the traffic of cities--over the rumble of wheels in the streets; Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds, No bargainers' bargains by day--no brokers or speculators--wouldthey continue? Would the talkers be talking? would the singer a~te,mptto sing? Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case"before the judge? Then rattle quicker, heavier drums--you bugles wilder blow. Beat! beat! drums! --blow! bugles! blow! Make no parley--stop for no expostulation,. Mind not the timid--mind not the weeper or prayer, Mind not the old man beseeching the young man, Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties,. Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, So strong you thump 0 terrible drums--so loud you bugles blow. 3. Look Down Fair Moon Look down fair moon and bathe this scene, Pour softly down night's nimbus floods on faces ghastly, swollen, purple, On the dead on their backs with arms toss'd wide, Pour down your unstinted nimbus sacred moon.

12 4. Reconciliation Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost, That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil' d world; For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead, I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffm--i draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin. -- Walt Whitman Final concerts of The Dale Warland Singers' 20th Anniversary Season 3 pm, Sunday, 29 March 1992 Neo-Choral n Walker Art Center Program Highlights: Charles Hoag: The Ogallala Aquifer (world premiere) Anthony Davis: Voyage through Death to Life Upon These Shores Vincent Persichetti: Winter Cantata plus works by Darius Milhaud and Samuel Barber For tickets, call :~0 pm, Friday, 24 April 1992 Gala Benefit for TheDale Warland Singers Lafayette Country Club For Benefit infonnation, call pm, Sunday 3 May 1992 Twentieth Anniversary Concert with The Eastman Brass and Friends Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie Program: C. Hubert Parry: I Was Glad Bengt Hambraeus: Motetum Archangeli Michaelis R. Murray Schafer: A Garden of Bells Stephen Paulus: Visions from Hildegard, Part I for chorus, brass quintet; timpani (world premiere) ImantRaminsh: Ave Verum Corpus Carol Barnett: The Last Invocation Norman Dello Joio: To Saint Cecilia plus selections by the Eastman Brass and Friends For tickets, call '