Chicago a cappella
Chicago a cappella is performing an all-British program starting the first weekend in October. Music Director Patrick Sinozich has written a brief synopsis of the program, which premiered last weekend in Jacksonville, Illinois:
Welcome to The British Are Coming and to what has been described as “a musical romp in the hay!” We've taken five madrigals, a medieval love song, some tasteful tunes from the Baroque, added a British folk song, a 20th century masterwork and wrapped it up in some boppin’ Beatles arrangements for you to enjoy while you sit back and wonder "will she or won’t she?" The British Are Coming showcases the shimmering harmonies and sparkling diction of Chicago a cappella as they follow the story of "A Lover and His Lass."
Composer Paul Crabtree will be at the Chicago and Evanston performances on October 3 and 5 respectively; we are performing his music on this concert, and he is a delightful person to meet and a superb composer and arranger.
This program is part fun, part romantic and totally full of beautiful melodies and witty words. We hope you’ll join us for a fascinating tour of musical magic in The British Are Coming! This program is a cappella musical storytelling at its best. Come hear for yourself.
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I've been mulling over, for months now, writing a piece of music to this fantastic sonnet I came across last fall.
It's finally taking shape. I mostly composed it this evening after I got home from work. I am much relieved that it's finally here.
The composing process isn't particularly magic or mysterious, or at least it doesn't seem that way to me now. It used to -- that was before I started composing!
(Slight digression: I first wrote "composting" just now, which is funny because composing is almost like composting... when I write choral music, I have to chew and chew and work my way around a text, almost like digesting it the way worms do newspaper -- and only after the words have lived inside me for a while does the musical part take shape. My wife and I gave my mom one of those worm-composting bins for Christmas last year, and it does work.)
The poem in question is by Mark Jarman, a fabulous poet who lives and works in Nashville at Vanderbilt. About ten years ago he published a poetry collection called "Questions for Ecclesiastes," and in that book is a collection of 20 "Unholy Sonnets." The one that really struck me has the first line as follows: "Half asleep in prayer I said the right thing" -- and because of copyright law you'll have to buy the poetry book to see the whole piece, until you come to the Chicago a cappella "Abundance" concert in February 2009 and hear it, by which time the poem will be in the program notes!
What I love about the poem is the way it evokes the almost accidental nature of grace. I say "almost accidental" because I do believe that you can cultivate your soul to a place where grace is more possible -- or at least more palpable -- than when your soul is anxious or angry or out of whack, in which case grace is difficult to come by. So at some point there is not so much of an accident involved, but those special moments do come as a very pleasant surprise, which is what this poem seems to be attempting to describe.
The music itself is mostly chordal, declamatory, getting all the words out at the same time. However, I did put in some imitative passages when that seemed called for. This piece has more key changes than most of my works; this time I composed at the piano, which I don't usually do. I decided it was worth a try, since the one other time I composed at the piano I got the piece published!
Once the rhythm of the words starts to take hold, the rest follows. I don't think I'm the world's greatest tunesmith -- my pieces are known for their "whole package" nature, and I do think I write lines that fit the voice well -- but you won't hear people humming my songs very often. That's okay with me.
I don't have formal degrees in composing, but that's not stopping me, fortunately. Watch this space for more when the piece is done.
Have a good week.
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Okay, the annual ritual of program selection is done. Another year is set for Chicago a cappella. Woo hoo!
What are we going to sing? I want to tell you about the research part, and I'll give you a sneak peek in the process.
In the fall of 2008, we're doing a new program called The British are Coming! -- a celebration of the finest English a cappella choral music, reaching all the way back to the 15th century and going to the present day. Actually, we'll start with recent music, work our way backwards in time, and then return to the present.
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This blog entry comes "hot off the press" or "hot from the studio" from guest blogger Betsy Grizzell, a longtime mezzo-soprano with Chicago a cappella. She writes:
Chicago a cappella comes alive in front of an audience. Audiences regularly comment on how we seem so accessible and at ease. From the stage, we talk to them, we joke, we look them in the eye. But there's none of that at a recording session! Just unforgiving technology and a critical ear in the booth.
One of the hardest things about recording is the strain on the voice. A nighttime session means you're coming from whatever it is you do during the day (teaching, "regular job", wrangling infant twins...) into a demanding, every-mistake-is-recorded-for-posterity gig. Last week was the first session for our current CD project, and at least half of us were sick. And the blowers for heat were loud, so they had to be turned off. So now we're tired, sick, and shivering, trying to sing shimmery soft passages. We managed two shimmery pieces, and moved on to maybe our toughest piece of the whole project, Carol Barnett's Hodie. Hodie starts very softly, and gradually gets louder and louder, higher and higher, with a relentless tempo. Exhausting. If you're sick, you might start losing your ability to phonate on some pitches. Or that floaty E you've always had sinks like the Titanic. So you figure out how to make it happen. Kathryn Kamp & I often swap parts when her soprano passaggio is raw and my alto break is wasted. Susan Shcober will oomph her volume to help cover my dead zone, and I might hum along with her to help when she's tired.
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Tonight at 7:30pm, a new recording project by Chicago a cappella will take its first steps in the studio. We don't have a title for the new release, but the album will be a "Holidays a cappella" compilation of the best from our popular December concerts. Jim Ginsburg of Cedille Records will be in the booth as executive producer, and our music director Patrick Sinozich will be leading the sessions. We don't have a conductor, so the ensemble will be self-led as we are on stage.
The recording will take place at a secret location, because we don't want people knocking on the doors; we need our concentration. Recording is hard work! There are sessions this month and next, and we anticipate a fall 2008 release. Watch this page for more on the recording and editing process, and thanks to Cedille Records for taking us on for a second CD release on that fabulous label.
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At the National Gallery in Washington DC last week, an unusual piece of music had its premiere. Called "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," the work takes its title from the Wallace Stevens poem of the same name. Several things make it unusual: (1) the piece has thirteen movements; (2) it is composed for high school men's chorus and piano, not unique in itself but because each is stylistically an entity unto itself; (3) the movements can be arranged aleatorically, a la John Cage, by the throw of a die (and was in this case by one of the female singers present, who threw a pair of fuzzy dice).
Most unique of all -- I don't think I've ever seen this anywhere else -- each of the thirteen movements was written by a DIFFERENT composer. In this case, the roster of composers includes some of the giants working in the field today: Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, David Conte, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (of "El Hambo" and "Four Shakespeare Songs" fame, for those longtime CAC fans reading this), Daniel Gawthrop, Rollo Dilworth, Matthew Harris, Daniel Gawthrop, Tarik O'Regan, Stephen Hatfield, Ola Gjielo, and Christopher Delp.
That is twelve, and I am the thirteenth. Woo hoo! What an honor. I got stanza # 2 to compose:
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In a few short weeks, Chicago a cappella will take to the stage with the program we call "Romanticism and Rock'n'Roll."
Okay, now you're wondering: what the heck is that?
I was asked that same question a few years ago, when I had created a program called "Baroque and Beatles." That program was only a concept when I went to a board meeting a few months before the concert. Tom Huyck from the board asked me, "Jonathan, what in the world is that concert going to be like?" I described it as best I could, which was still mostly conceptual, since the program hadn't yet been created, and he responded with something like "Huh."
Of course, "B&B" has gone on to become one of our most popular programs, a favorite on our tours and one that the singers love. In fact, it's because of "B&B" that "R&R&R" exists. Here's what happened:
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I'm leaving for Hawaii tomorrow on vacation, and I just added 274 new tracks to my iPod. The old playlist was getting stale.
Here's some of what I added to my iPod:
—Música de Latinoamerica -- a choral sampler mostly from Venezuelan choirs and composers, compiled by the publisher "earthsongs" in Oregon, some of which will appear on our upcoming "Voces latinas" concert in April
—Forestier: Masses (sung by Chicago a cappella -- still one of my favorite projects ever)
—Fauré Requiem recorded by John Rutter and Cambridge Singers (typical British reserve from the soloists, but great choral singing and orchestral playing)
—Huff: Requiem, SSAATTBB with soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, plus organ, strings, and chimes (this was a demo that Chicago a cappella did for the publisher Hinshaw Music in 1999-2000 -- terrific music that I later conducted at Unity Temple with the volunteer choir)
—Orban: Mass No. 6 (SSAA with piano) -- also a demo for Hinshaw by the Budapest Girls' Choir, fabulous, lush, rich singing not normally associated with treble choirs, and a piano part reminiscent of Debussy
—Perotin by the Hilliard Ensemble -- 12th-century French cathedral music, one of my desert-island albums
—Spirituals by Chanticleer (Where the Sun Will Never Go Down) and Chicago a cappella (Go Down, Moses)
—and on the non-classical spectrum: two by Elton John (Tumbleweed Connection and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), two by Lyle Lovett (Joshua Judges Ruth and Lyle Lovett and his Large Band), a folk compilation called "The Art of Fingerstyle Guitar," two by the Irish band Clannad, one by Anúna, the great Celtic choir from Dublin (semi-classical, really), Enya's "Watermark," a great "Digital Duke" Ellington album from 1987 conducted by Mercer Ellington, and Harry Connick Jr.'s early "We Are In Love."
Aloha! -- Jonathan
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This week's guest blogger is the renowned composer Stacy Garrop, whom we have had the pleasure and privilege of commissioning to write two pieces for Chicago a cappella this season. Her very brief bio is that she's an Associate Professor in Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. Her more substantial bio is at her website, www.garrop.com. She writes below about being commissioned to write new choral music. Enjoy her eloquence! -- Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director, Chicago a cappella
Getting Back to My Roots: Adventures in Writing Jewish Music for Chicago a cappella
An Offer I Couldn't Refuse
Last spring, Jonathan Miller asked me if I'd accept a commission to write two new religious-themed works for Chicago a cappella's 2007-08 season. Busy as my composing schedule is these days, I have a distinct weakness for writing choral works and will find a way to squeeze more time out of a day to write them. And who can refuse an opportunity to work with the singers of Chicago a cappella?!
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Okay, I have a question for you, based on my lifelong love of spirituals.
Are African-American spirituals "classical music"? If so, why? If not, why not?
And if some arrangements are more "classical" than others, how come?
I'm not asking about the political-correctness side of the question -- rather, more about the musical aspects.
This is not a trick question. I've got my own ideas about it (which I'll flesh out more next time), but I am more interested in what the rest of you think. The whole thing struck me as a little odd, so I thought I'd ask the community what it thinks and feels about this.
Let us hear from you.
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