We are blessed at Graphite to have such a deep pool of talented composers. It’s not always easy to keep up with all the great new music they produce—which is why we have a newsletter. To spotlight some of the pieces we’re most excited about. Our next couple January newsletters will focus on some different categories of new music.
Promised Land
Matilda Durham, arr. Jennifer Lucy Cook
Voces Feminae Series
Available in Advanced Voicing (SATB div a cappella) or SATB a cappella versions
Matilda Durham (1815-1901) was an American composer and music teacher. She may be the first woman to publish music in the United States, with the hymn “Promised Land” (1835, Southern Harmony).
Durham’s musical style is characteristic of shape-note hymnody. There are abundant parallelisms, open fifths, and a rugged, determined rhythmic energy. The melodies are in the middle voice (tenor), which contributes to the idiomatic sound. Most hymnals since the late 19th century changed the tune to a major key, robbing it of its mystery and longing.
Jennifer Lucy Cook’s arrangement returns Durham’s tune to a minor key. She also elevates the musical source material to a new level of choral artistry, bringing Durham’s compositions to new audiences.
World Premiere performance by Phoenix Chorale,
Christopher Gabbitas, Artistic Director.
A House on the Hill
Alex Berko (Alex Berko Music)
for SATB chorus and marimba (opt. piano)
“I discovered bell hooks and her beautiful poetry while living in Kentucky for my residency with the Louisville Orchestra. I was struck by the directness of her language, the internal breath of the meter, and clear sense of place and history evoked in the text. This poem is part of bell’s collection of poetry entitled Appalachian Elegy which draws on her experience growing up in the hills of Kentucky.”
-Alex Berko
Score Follower Video — Performed by Northwestern University Chorus,
Logan Henke, conductor.
Disenfranchised
Elizabeth Alexander (Seafarer Press)
Available for SATB & piano, SSA & piano, or TBB & piano
“Disenfranchised” calls out voter disenfranchisement for what it truly is: a power game with winners and losers, ever-changing rules, and an intent to exclude. A serious subject for sure, but you’ll find no scolds or lectures here! Instead, this rambunctious romp explores this insidious “game” with over-the-top humor, traipsing through ragtime, nursery songs, and patriotic chestnuts while exposing a less-than-attractive aspect of our democratic system.
The Minstrel Boy
Joshua Shank (B&F Music)
SATB, a cappella
The story of a young Irish minstrel who destroys his instrument rather than have it captured by the enemy. It ends with the hope for the end of all war.
Easter Cantata
David von Kampen
SATB, piano, optional string quartet, optional soloists
This 5-movement Cantata sets texts from the hymnwriters Brigitte Katerine Boye, Martin Luther, and Paul Gerhardt in addition to passages from Psalm 118 and Job 19. These musical settings pair these sturdy sacred texts with new melodies, interesting harmony, and colorful, supportive string accompaniment.
Score Follower Video — Performed by the Concordia University, Nebraska A Cappella Choir, Conducted by Kurt von Kampen
Keep Going
Carlos Cordero (The Happy Choir)
This piece is available in three versions: SATB and piano, SATB, Strings and Piano, or SATB and Orchestra. This piece is also available in TTBB or SSAA voicings, with each accompaniment version.
“My biggest challenge in life is fear of the unknown and being uncertain of the future. If there was ever a time when I didn’t know what was coming, this was it. Not even 2020, but 2023 won that place. “Keep Going” is a phrase that has helped me while trying to get back on my feet. Ironically, Ryan and I created this piece while going through the biggest challenge in our relationship: separation.
I hope this piece helps you know that even during difficult times, even when we think that we shouldn’t be in this world, love is always there, and we can support each other. Let’s reach out to each other and be kinder. We are all hurting in some ways.”
-Carlos Cordero
Everything Possible
Fred Small, arr. J. David Moore
Fresh Ayre Music
SATB a cappella or SSAA a cappella
Singer-songwriter and Unitarian minister Fred Small wrote this song in the early 1990s, as a way to talk to children about the diversity of ways that love and gender express itself within the human family.
The Frost Myth
Katerina Gimon
SATB choir a cappella (with divisi) and opt. percussion, also available for SSAA or TTBB
Set to the text of American poet Alice Williams Brotherton, The Frost Myth brings to life the Norse story of how our universe was born — from fire and frost. To paint this captivating tale, the music swirls and tumbles through a myriad of exciting textures, from persistent and driving rhythmic figures to powerful Viking-like chant.
Orchard in Bloom
SATB a cappella choir with viola
The viola sets the bucolic scene with its gently buzzing open strings, interspersed with bird calls. The choir sings the text with illustrations – murmuring bees, bird song, quasi-overtone singing, glissandi, wind sounds.
Sehati (One Heart)
SATB, piano, percussion
Practice Tracks are available as well!
Sehati is an uplifting piece that is rooted in acceptance and belonging. It also humbly captures Tracy Wong’s gratitude and love for the choral community, a sanctuary for many. The music features the weaving of Malay folk elements into the contemporary Western choral setting.
Performed by RESOUND Choir,
Thomas Burton, conductor
Sorrow Into Song
Christine Donkin (Graphite Publishing)
for SATB choir and piano
“’Sorrow into Song’ was inspired by my mother, who passed away in April 2021. In the last years of her life, she was unable to speak or understand language due to dementia, but she never stopped singing. As communication became more and more difficult, and as she gradually stopped recognizing her friends and family, it became clear that music was the last remaining connection that we had with her.
The way that my mother continued “singing in hard wind ceaselessly” after she lost the ability to speak is reflected in the way that I have set the poem: while the tenor and bass parts contain all of the text, the soprano and alto parts consist almost entirely of wordless singing. The only words sung by the sopranos and altos are “rise from pain” – words which I think encapsulate both the essence of the poem and the role of music in my mother’s life, especially when she was ill.”
– Christine Donkin (2022)
Performed by Indiana University Jacobs School of Music NOTUS Dominick DiOrio, conductor
Our Contributing Editor
Jonathan Campbell, BA, MSM, DMA, currently serves as Director of Music at Zion Lutheran Church, Anoka, MN., and is a Contributing Editor for Graphite Publishing. His music publishers include Augsburg Fortress, Concordia, Morningstar, GIA, Sacred Music Press, and Falls House. He won first prize in the Morningside Choral Composition Contest and was also awarded a Faith Partner’s Residency with the American Composer’s Forum. Jonathan has served many churches, conducted the Chorale of the Honors Choirs S.E. MN for eight years, and has served on the faculties of Winona State University, Augsburg University, and Pomona College.
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