< World Premiere >
DETLEV GLANERT :
Miserere für gemischten Chor a cappella, Op.34
(for 12 Sopranos, 12 Altos, 12 Tenors, 12 Basses)
Thursday 13 June, 1996 – Munich, Germany
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, dir. Gustav Sjökvist
Text: Wolf Wondratschek
Bote & Bock, Berlin, 1996 (BB 2092)
< World Premiere >
SVEN DAVID SANDSTRÖM : Etyd nr 4, som i e-moll
(for unaccompanied SSSAAATTTBBB choir & soli)
Saturday 11 June, 1988
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City
Hägerstens Motettkör, dir. Ingemar Månsson
AB Nordiska Musikförlaget, 1987 (NMS 10589)
Text: from "24 Romantic Études", Tobias Berggren
“With its predominantly lyrical content, the work is of almost orchestral proportions, with up to 12 divided parts as well as solo elements. The basic mood of Berggren's poem is one of melancholy: summer is waning, the nature is at its loveliest on the verge of impending collapse. Nature and Man, "enclosed in the same fact", bow to the inevitable in the slow but remorseless progress of change. Sandström's interpretation of the text is acutely sensitive to its nuances and shades of meaning. This sensitivity is not confined to the qualities of words, it also includes the gesture of the language, the very atmosphere surrounding words and images.” – Birgitta Huldt
“This darkly sensual choral poem, is built along grand lines, with a baritone soloist and a length of almost 20 minutes. Sandström has painted the feeling of late summer’s heavy lushness 'right before a breakdown' in colors taken from the palette of late Romanticism, like a wink towards Richard Strauss’ luxuriously illustrative tonal world.” – Camilla Lundberg
< World Premiere >
ALFRED SCHNITTKE : Concerto for Mixed Choir a cappella
Monday 9 June, 1986 – Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir, cond. Valery Polyansky
Compozitor Saint Petersburg, 2017 (No. 7000)
Texts: 'Book of Lamentations' by Gregory of Narek (c. 951–1003)
“When writing the Concerto, Schnittke was not aiming towards a particular historical style, but the meditative character of the musical progression, determined by the text, suggests associations with Russian traditions of spiritual choral music from Bortnyansky to Rachmaninov and Grechaninov. Synthesizing disparate musical elements, Schnittke removes them from their temporal contexts, and the prayerful mood imbues the music with a sense of ethereal light. The shimmering D major of the finale of the Choir Concerto, just as in the Epilogue from the ballet 'Peer Gynt', becomes symbolic of an invisible but always perceptible spiritual presence.” – Georgy Kovalesky
< World Premiere >
GILES SWAYNE : Stabat Mater, Op. 95
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & SATB soli)
Thursday 3 June, 2004 – Priory Park Chapel, Bath, England
Bath Camerata, cond. Nigel Perrin
Gonzaga Music Ltd., 2004 (GZ019)
“The Latin poem 'Stabat mater dolorosa', which comes from thirteenth century Italy, is a powerful meditation upon the death of Christ and the grief of his mother, and has been in liturgical use since medieval times. According to Christian belief, Jesus’ mother lost her son to a violent death which he suffered willingly for his convictions. The poem was well-known to me as a boy; rereading it in 2003 with a view to making a setting, I was struck by the fact that the events to which it relates are repeated today all too often, a mere stone’s throw from the place where Jesus is said to have been crucified. Men, women and children still die violent deaths in Palestine and Israel, and their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters still mourn and bury them – it is always the women who are left behind. That is the burden of this piece. It is not sacred music: it celebrates our common humanity.
My setting incorporates into the 'Stabat mater' the Aramaic & Hebrew text of 'Kaddish' and the blessing 'Barùkh uvarùkh' from the 'Talmud Babli', and the Arabic of the 'Salàat al-Jinàaza' – the Muslim burial service – inserting these between the stanzas of the Latin poem to create a shared ritual of grief.” – Giles Swayne
< World Premiere >
ERNST PEPPING : Lob der Träne oder Der Welten Lauf
(for unaccompanied SATB choir)
Saturday 30 May, 1942 – Berlin, Germany
Chor der Berliner Kirchenmusikschule, dir. Gottfried Grote
Bärenreiter Verlag, 1948 (BA1827)
< World Premiere >
JAMES MacMILLAN : O Virgo prudentissima
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir)
Tuesday 22 May, 2018 – Eton College Chapel, England
The Sixteen, cond. Harry Christopher
Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd., 2018 (BH13645)
< World Premiere >
FRANCIS POTT :
The Souls of the Righteous are in the Hand of God
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & Tenor solo)
Sunday 20 May, 2000 – Winchester Cathedral, England
Winchester Cathedral Choir, cond. Dr. David Hill
William Kendall, Tenor
G. Ricordi & Co. London Ltd., 2005 (RICL 021)
< World Premiere >
FRANCIS POTT : Mass for 5 Voices
(for unaccompanied SSATB choir)
Sunday 16 May, 2004
London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (LFCCM),
St. Panctas' Church, London
LFCCM Choir, cond Christopher Batchelor
< World Premiere >
CHRISTOPHER BROWN : Aubade, Op. 17
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & soli)
Wednesday 15 May, 1968 – Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Elizabethan Singers, cond. Herrick Bunney
Chester Music, 1999 (CH55114)
Texts: Robert Herrick, William Davenant, and Edmund Spenser
< World Premiere >
PAUL HINDEMITH :
Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp, and Orchestra
Sunday 15 May, 1949
McMillan Academy Theatre, Columbia University, New York
CBS Symphony Orchestra, cond. Thor Johnson
Schott Music Ltd., London, 1950 (ED 4604)
< World Premiere >
BENNO AMMANN : Missa «Defensor Pacis»
(for unaccompanied SSCTBB div. choir)
Thursday 15 May, 1947 – St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Sistine Singers, cond. S. Exz Don Lorenzo Perosi
Hug & Co. Musikverlage, 1954 (GH 9965)
The Missa «Defensor Pacis» was written for the celebration of the canonization of Niklaus von Flüe (1417-1487), and accordingly has the subtitle "in honorem S. Nicolai Helvetii Eremitage" ("in honor of the Swiss saint and hermit Niklaus von Flüe"). With complex 6-12 voice polyphony, countless variations, and use of cantus firmus technique, Benno Ammann's Missa is one of the most important and extensive Masses written by a Swiss composer for a cappella choir.
< World Premiere >
ERNST PEPPING : Deutsche Choralmesse
(for unaccompanied SSATBarB choir)
Thursday 14 May, 1931 – Bremen, Germany
Bremer Domchor, dir. Richard Liesche
Schott Music GbmH & Co., 1930 (ED 3241)
< World Premiere >
ALEXANDER SHCHETYNSKY :
"Uzna Sebe" Symphony for Mixed Choir a cappella
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & Soli)
Friday 5 May, 2006
Festival of Contemporary Sacred Music, Uzhhorod, Ukraine
Uzhhorod Chamber Choir Cantus, cond. Emil Sokacz
Acta Publishers, 2007
“Hryhorii Skovoroda was a Ukrainian poet and Christian mystical philosopher of 18th century, a person of the highest level European education who developed his own philosophical system. For this choral symphony I have chosen the texts from his philosophical treatises and some fragments from the Bible and Ancient philosophers quoted in Skovoroda's works. All the texts are used in their original languages: bookish Old Ukrainian (the language of Skovoroda's writings), as well Old Slavonic, Ancient Greek and Latin.
... The music of the Symphony, however, does not contain superficial decorative elements that might depict this or that philosophical idea. At the same time the music contains many stylistic and genre elements taken from various cultures that differ geographically and in time of origin. They are elements of ancient and new Orthodox Church singing, melodies of Ukrainian songs, as well as various music techniques. Diatonic and chromatic, clear and naive tonal fragments and dramatic dissonant episodes are incorporated into a new meta-style.
The one movement Symphony bears some features of sonata form. It lasts about 35 minutes and is a demanding piece both for the performers and the listeners, similar to the writings of Skovoroda that require from the reader significant intellectual and spiritual efforts.”
— Alexander Shchetynsky
< World Premiere >
PAUL MORAVEC : Tempest Fantasy
Friday 2 May, 2003 – The Morgan Library, New York City
Trio Solisti – David Krakauer, Clarinet
Subito Music Publishing, 2003
Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music
'Tempest Fantasy' is a musical meditation on various characters, moods, situations, and lines of text from my favorite Shakespeare play 'The Tempest'. – Paul Moravec
< World Premiere >
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ : String Quartet No. 6
Thursday 1 May, 1947 – Harvard University
The Walden String Quartet
Edition Bärenreiter Praha, 2006 (H 7968)
"String Quartet No. 6 differs considerably from Martinů's previous Quartets. It represents a major step on a road which the composer characterised as the development from “geometry to fantasy”; it is music dislodged from all certainty. Typical for the whole work, which is constructed around three movements, is his most constant use of the principle of progressive variation, uneasy harmonic development, pulsating yet fine rhythmical values, and inventive treatment of sound.” – Aleš Březina
< World Premiere >
LEVENTE GYÖNGYÖSI : Magnificat
(for unaccompanied SATB-SATB choir & soli)
Tuesday 29 April, 1997 – Béla Bartók Conservatory, Budapest
Choir of the Music Academy, cond. by Anna Mechler
Kontrapunkt Music Ltd., Budapest, 2017 (K-0358)
< World Premiere >
THEA MUSGRAVE : For the Time Being: Advent
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir)
Monday 27 April, 1987 – St. John's Smith Square, London
The BBC Singers, cond. John Poole
Text: W. H. Auden (1907–1983)
Novello & Company Ltd., London, 1991 (No. 070513)
W. H. Auden published his long poem ‘For the Time Being’ in 1945. It is headed by a dedication to the poet’s mother who had died in 1941, and this quotation from Romans VI: ‘What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.’ The poem is subtitled ‘A Christmas Oratorio’, and was written with the intention (never fulfilled) that it should be set to music by Auden’s regular collaborator at the time, Benjamin Britten.
This work is a setting of the whole of the first section of the poem, ‘Advent’, in a continuous 25-minute span. It respects the division into separate numbers implied by the layout of the poem, and includes a Narrator speaking the text of Part II, accompanied by the chorus singing fragments from the previous section, and echoing the Narrator’s ironic prayer. — Thea Musgrave
< World Premiere >
ANDRZEJ PANUFNIK : Song to the Virgin
(for SMCTBarB a cappella chorus or 6 Soli)
Sunday 26 April, 1964 – Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Geraint Jones Singers, cond. Geraint Jones
Boosey & Hawkes Ltd., 1970 (B&H 19867)
In this choral prayer to the Virgin, my intention was to evoke the adoration, warmth and pure faith of the Polish peasant, for whom worship of the Virgin Mary has a very special closeness and significance. My desire to compose this piece was enkindled both by my memories of the naive beauty of the religious folk art of Poland, and by the moving and powerful mediaeval Latin text of an anonymous Polish poet - which I unearthed after a great deal of search. These two factors dictated to me the musical language as well as the structure.
The melodic theme based on the pentatonic scale is closely related to Polish folk music as well as some distant flavour of plainchant. This theme weaves consistently through all the six voices, passing through all 12 keys, and these processes are designed symmetrically.
The music opens in the first part with soprano and mezzo-soprano only, singing pianissimo, a most humble invocation to the Virgin. The other voices gradually join in, slowly swelling into a warm fortissimo climax. In the middle part of the work, in pianissimo, the voices intone [almost parlando] rather than sing, with much emphasis on the rhythm of the words, chacterising a peasant congregation in a country church. The third part is a reflection of the first as regards musical material, but dynamically it leads to a much stronger fortissimo. The prayer has become more urgent, and it intensifies in its ardour until it reaches final ecstatic shouts on the name 'Maria'. — Andrzej Panufnik
< World Premiere >
ELLIOTT CARTER : Symphonia 'sum fluxae pretium spei'
( 'I am the prize of inconstant hope' )
Saturday 25 April, 1998 – Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Oliver Küssen, CBE
Hendon Music / Boosey & Hawkes, 2008
“A symphony beyond symphonies, the Symphonia was an astoundingly and hearteningly massive achievement for a composer in his mid-eighties. The invention is consistently alert, the execution masterful and the development typically nimble. Thinking of the latin poem Bulla ('The Bubble') by the English poet Richard Crashaw (c. 1613–1649), Carter adopts the viewpoint of a bubble floating above human affairs, observing, in the three movements, the games people play, the tragedies they endure, and the life that goes on fizzing through them.
The movements may be performed separately, and were separately commissioned: 'Partita' by Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 'Adagio tenebroso' by the BBC for the 100th anniversary of the Proms, and 'Allegro scorrevole' by the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Christoph von Dohnányi.
But it is when they are played together that the full breadth of this extraordinary work stands revealed.” — Paul Griffiths
< World Premiere >
ROBERTO GERHARD : Concerto for Orchestra
Sunday 25 April, 1965 – Boston, Massachusetts
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Antal Dorati
Oxford University Press, London, 1965
“Ensemble playing, the distinguishing feature of the concerto for orchestra, in fact here takes the place of the virtuoso soloist in the traditional concerto. As a result, one of the composer's tasks is to provide such varied instances of virtuoso team-work as will show up the quality of the orchestra as an ensemble. Clearly, this takes us rather a long way from the formal pattern of the soloist concerto. Indeed, little of it remains in the design of the Concerto for Orchestra ...” – Roberto Gerhard