Soon Ah Will Be Done Arr. J.D. Frizzell

 

Best of luck!

 

John

I'm a big fan of the three Tim Harbold arrangements published by E.C. Shirmer in 1995.  It barely misses your 21st-century criterion, but I believe it's close enough to warrant a mention. 

Three Spirituals / Tim Harbold, arr.
E.C. Schirmer, November 1995 for unaccompanied SATB chorus

• I' Been in the Storm
• I Want Jesus to Walk with Me (with optional piano part)
• Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door

Tim's profile at the Wheaton College website provides a list of recordings.

 

Kindest regards,

Sandy Glass

Sydney NSW

Check out Stacey V. Gibbs. So many great new arrangements written this year for this album:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/didnt-it-rain-feat.-sunday/id503952749

Most are unpublished, but will be coming out soon. You can find his stuff on Gentry, Colla Voce, Santa Barbara.

Ethan -- Chicago a cappella commissioned and premiered my "Old Testament Spirituals" cycle last season.  They are published by SCSM, my publishing company, and available from me (jonathan at greatchoralmusic dot com).  The first one is medium-fast, "Little David, Play on Your Harp," with a mezzo solo (the choir parts are easy) -- about a minute and a half.  The tour de force of the cycle is 6-1/2 minutes, called "Daniel, Moses, Joshua," and it's a combination of "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel, "Go Down, Moses" and "Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho."  The beginning is slow, for the first 2 minutes or so, and then it speeds up and builds to a huge finish.  You need a killer tenor soloist.  The energy is terrific and the notes are not hard.  The cycle is coming out on CAC's upcoming album of spirituals on Gothic Records (early 2013).  Will bring the house down. 

 

Let me know if you'd like to see an eval score for either one.

 

Also, you probably already know about this:  in 2001 Oxford included the fantastic "Way over in Beulah-lan'" by Joseph Jennings in its Spirituals for Choirs book.  The short, blisteringly fast piece takes sustained energ,y and you need great high sopranos and tenors.  It's worth the effort.  CAC put it in on our upcoming album too. 

 

Best,

Jonathan Miller

Hello Ethan!

 

I composed an SATB spiritual last year. It starts off freely and slowly but gradually accelerates and becomes 'up tempo.'  It has a piano accompaniment but I think it could be reworked into an a cappella piece with minimal adjustments. The text is derived from Psalm 4.  Are you interested?

 

Heather Seaton,

Composer

 

Does this include Gospel?  If so, I nominate "Let Everything that Hath Breath" by Jeffrey Ames.  You can hear lots of examples of it on youtube.  It has been done by some HS All-State groups, but is accessible to non-All State types of groups too.   kathy cushman

Thanks to all here.  I happen to love "Let Everything that Hath Breath," though I would agree with placing that in the gospel category instead.  Meanwhile, I'm amazed that I've never heard of Stacey Gibbs before, having listened to several of his arrangements today.  Allan, do you (or anyone that "applauded" your post) have a particular favorite?  Slight bias towards the faster ones here.

Here's an a cappella, 21st century, up tempo spiritual:

 

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Something-s-Coming-SATB/19251092

Ethan -- if you are looking for Christmas spirituals, check out my setting of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" for mezzo solo and SATB a cappella from 2007.  FYI, from the 1990's and a cappella, I also have set "Behold That Star" and "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow" for baritone solo, SATB and organ.  Info on all available via at this link to the compositions page at my website.  best, 

 

 

 

Hi Ethan,

 

A couple of "newer" ones from me:

 

Great Day  (SSAATTBB; c. 3:00)  2005
    arr. for the Gordon College Choir
    Roger Dean Publishing Company

    http://www.lorenz.com/Divisions/RD

My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord (SATB divisi; c. 3:00)  2001
    arr. for the Dale Warland Singers
    Colla Voce Music, Inc.

http://www.collavoce.com/
 

Both selections have audio samples on the publisher's website.

 

Thanks for asking, and good luck with your search,

 

Carol Barnett

My colleague at CWU Vijay Singh wrote a wonderful spiritual - "Carpenters of God" in 2010.

 

He talks for the first minute on this video before it is performed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w73FXtOYFOw

 

Ethan,

 

Carol's reply jogged my memory of a nice newer chart by Marques Garrett, available from GIA -- it's an SSAATTBB setting of "Great Day."  Nice energy, with a rolling section in the men's voices toward the end.

 

Also, Rollo Dilworth did two settings for Chicago a cappella that fit your description:  one is "Roll, Jordan, Roll," and the other is a wonderful Xmas text that rarely gets done, "Sistah Mary."  I believe Hal Leonard has already published both of them.  Highly recommended.

 

Best,

Jonathan

Greg Gilpin's Nothin' Gonna Stumble My Feet is really good: http://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/search.jsp?keywords=gonna+stumble