Greetings from the Senior Editor at ECS Publishing Group. As many of you know, I am also a composer. I am seeking a mixed choir to record and/or premiere a work I composed this year. Management at ECS Publishing Group has already agreed to publish this work. However, we would all prefer not to do so without a high-quality recording in place. Because the piece has a duration of 6:30, it makes it more difficult to schedule with the choir who routinely does our demo recordings for us. Therefore, I am offering this opportunity to any first-rate choir out there who is willing to record and/or premiere this work, either with piano or chamber orchestra accompaniment. The copyright for the music currently belongs to me, possibly until a recording is in place, or at least until one is guaranteed.
This piece is called THE GALE. The poem is by Abraham (“Abramek”) Koplowicz, (b. 1930, Lodz, Poland, d. 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau); the translation is by Sarah Lawson and Małgorzata Koraszewska as adapted by me. I am friends with the late poet’s half-brother, Eliezer (“Lolek”) Grynfeld, an elderly, well-known Holocaust survivor. I am honored that he has given me blanket permission in perpetuity to set Abramek’s poems to music. To the best of my knowledge, this amazing poem has never been set to music by anyone, let alone widely read. You can read the poem here.
http://stanleymhoffman.com/The%20Gale%20(Koplowicz)%20-%20Poem%20-%20H2O.pdf
I know that a lot of composers say this when they talk about their most recent work, but in this case, I really mean it. I consider this my most important composition to-date, and my most accessible one. It is not difficult to perform for the singers, nor for a chamber orchestra, but it does take a skilled pianist to perform the version with piano accompaniment only. You can view the piano/choral score here,
http://stanleymhoffman.com/The%20Gale%20-%20piano-choral%20score%20-%20octavo%20-%20H2O.pdf
and listen to a synthesized version of it here;
http://stanleymhoffman.com/The%20Gale%20-%20piano-choral%20score%20-%20octavo%20(synthesized).mp3
and view the full score here,
http://stanleymhoffman.com/The%20Gale%20-%20full%20score%20-%20H2O.pdf
and listen to a synthesized version of it here.
http://stanleymhoffman.com/The%20Gale%20-%20full%20score%20(synthesized).mp3
Thank you for your consideration.
Stanley M. Hoffman, Ph.D.
Senior Editor
ECS Publishing Group
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Stanley M. Hoffman says
I am pleased to announce that my recent musical composition titled THE GALE for mixed chorus and piano or chamber orchestra will receive its world premiere performance with piano accompaniment this year. It is a setting of a text by Abraham (“Abramek”) Koplowicz, a talented young boy who died in the Holocaust. The performance will be given by the choir “From Age to Age,” Peter J. Durow, Conductor. The concert will take place on on November 1, 2018, at Open World Learning Community in St. Paul, MN. A second performance will be given by them on November 11, 2018, at Easter Lutheran Church in Eagan, MN. They also plan to record the piece in January of 2019. This recording will be used to promote the sheet music when this title is subsequently published by ECS Publishing Group.
https://choralnet.org/announcements/a-choir-to-premiere-and-record-the-gale-is-chosen/
Peter Engh says
Our choir would love to help you out with this piece.
Pete Engh
Westby High School Choir