New Recordings

Spring concerts – cancelled?? – unheard of! Choir practice – cancelled?? – see you next September maybe? – hopefully!

Remember 9/11 – choirs everywhere rose to the occasion with a powerful message of peace and love. Now what!

During these days of uncertainty – going stir-crazy at home – one can still listen. Thank God for that.

Here are 21 new titles – gorgeous choral selections. Comfort Food for the Ears. You are invited to listen and enjoy the playlist.

with gratitude and continued hope for the future,

Larry

Cypress Choral Music

Dr. Larry Nickel, CEO, editor
Diane Loomer, C.M., founder

https://cypresschoral.com/composers/comfort-food-for-the-ears/

I am pleased to announce a new recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks) of my new SATB setting of the poem FIRE AND ICE by Robert Frost.

You may listen to the recording on my website at http://www.gregbartholomew.com/fireindex.html
or on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/greg-bartholomew-choral/fire-and-ice-matt-curtis-demo

Published in December 1920 in Harper’s Magazine and again in 1923 in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book New Hampshire, “Fire and Ice” is one of Robert Frost’s most popular poems. Some have asserted that the poem is a compression of Dante’s Inferno. In an anecdote he recounted in 1960, prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley claimed to have inspired Fire and Ice in an encounter with Frost a year before the poem was published. Frost asked Shapley how the world will end, and Shapley responded that either the sun will explode and incinerate the Earth, or the Earth will somehow escape this fate only to end up slowly freezing in deep space.

Sheet music for FIRE AND ICE is available from: J.W. Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/Fire-and-Ice/11129789.item#

I will be preparing a score video for FIRE AND ICE shortly, and I will post an announcement for that when it is ready.

Greg Bartholomew
www.gregbartholomew.com

Dear conductors and ChoralNet users,

enjoy this sublime performance of my brand new “SURGE, AMICA MEA” with one of the finest choirs           in the world: The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge – Stephen Layton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGlddEvDL8

Surge, amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni:

columba mea, in foraminibus petræ, in caverna maceriæ.

Ostende mihi faciem tuam, sonet vox tua in auribus meis:

vox enim tua dulcis, et facies tua decora.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliffs.

Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice;

for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Words: Song of Solomon 2 vv. 13-14

‘Goshu Ondo Suite’ by Eri Yamamoto
Eri Yamamoto Trio and Choral Chameleon

Recorded Live in November 2018 in New York City
Released by jazz-specialist AUM Fidelity label

A mini-documentary about the project is viewable here:

Reviews:
Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com 4.5/5
“There have been countless jazz masses and gospel-jazz recordings, with some iconic and influential recordings among them including Mary Lou Williams’ Black Christ of the Andes (1963), Donald Byrd’s A New Perspective from 1964, Duke Ellington’s 1965 Sacred Music Concert, and Dave Brubeck’s Truth Is Fallen from 1972, to name a few. Add to this prestigious legacy Eri Yamamoto’s Goshu Ondo Suite, her first work for chorus and jazz trio recorded by her longtime group with the 50-voice Choral Chameleon directed by Vince Peterson.
Yamamoto came to choral composition by accident. Vacuuming her apartment one day, she was humming the first two lines of “Goshu Ondo” in time to the machine’s rhythm. It is a traditional circle dance tune from Shiga near Kyoto, where she spent summers as a child. The light went on. She decided on the spot to write a choral piece based on the song. She spent three months composing longhand in a notebook, then sent a demo to Peterson. Before hearing it, he agreed to undertake it: He trusted Yamamoto’s instincts based on her trio recordings. It took another three months to develop the work for performance.
The unique lyrical qualities she possesses as a composer serve her well here. She reimagines the centuries-old Japanese song through her own story as a child singing and dancing to it on the shores of Lake Biwa, and as a professional musician in New York City, all refracted through the twin creative lenses of modern jazz and choral music.”
Full review: https://www.allmusic.com/album/goshu-ondo-suite-mw0003322555?fbclid=IwAR25PBJ5M4cDN58AcBGDbo8NR_N_iAHvplCi8i-eZU58u_1rYqoXx5LMKSI

“The fluid interaction between vocal chorus and jazz trio is clear within the first minute of the opening movement, a literal convocation. (What the singers are expressing, in English, would be: “Everyone, let’s get together!”) Yamamoto steers this ship from the piano, with the help of a deft rhythm section, featuring David Ambrosio on bass and Ikuo Takeuchi on drums.” Nate Chinen, WBGO 88.3 FM

Since developing the premiere of ‘Goshu Ondo Suite’ with Choral Chameleon, Eri Yamamoto has performed the piece with choirs in Spain and Japan. Choirs interested in perusing a score and interested in performing the piece with the Eri Yamamoto Trio (who have a residency at Arthur’s Tavern in NYC) should contact the composer at www.eriyamamoto.com

Audio Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Goshu-Suite-Choral-Chameleon-Yamamoto/dp/B07XWK3PWY/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Goshu+Ondo+Suite&qid=1573836947&sr=8-1

https://music.apple.com/us/album/goshu-ondo-suite/1480053495

https://www.pandora.com/artist/eri-yamamoto/goshu-ondo-suite/ALcwx67d4nn4tn9?part=ug-desktop&corr=1536838529

http://www.choralchameleon.com
http://www.aumfidelity.com
http://www.eriyamamoto.com

A new recording of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s All Night Vigil (Vigilia) has just been released by BIS Records. On the recording the Helsinki Chamber Choir sings under Nils Schweckendiek’s direction. Niall Chorell (tenor) and Tuukka Haapaniemi (bass) along the choir’s own members take care of the solo parts.

The choral masterpiece has been recorded only a few times earlier so the new disc makes an important addition to the interpretations of one of Rautavaara’s most appreciated pieces.

https://bis.se/performers/helsinki-chamber-choir/rautavaara-vigilia

You can purchase the score of Vigilia here:
https://webshop.fennicagehrman.fi/page/product/vigilia-all-night-vigil/113422