Tell It to the Nations: Mixed Choir a Cappella: Vocal Score

SKU: FG.55011-857-7

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė tells about the background of Aletheia (2022) for mixed choir (SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB): Aletheia is variously translated from Greek as unconcealedness, revealing or unclosedness. It is uncovering of the Truth - the one we are afraid to face, the truth that can only be expressed directly through the pre-verbal communication. How do you find words for the horrors of the war, for all unimaginable global atrocities? How do you even allow yourself to feel it out? Solely through art, through music that offer a safe space and a formalized framework for processing these accumulated complex emotions and sharing them with others in a moment. This piece has no verbal text and it is based on various combinations of vowels and consonants, thus connecting us on a deeper level through the immediate emotional experience.

The war in Ukraine in spring of 2022 had an impact on all of us and shattered my deeply rooted Lithuanian identity. When the freedom is threatened and innocent people are dying, it is hard to make sense out of the reality. Yet there is poetry even in the worst nightmares. I was imagining that the only instrument people have even in situations of destruction, in the midst of the war, is their VOICE. It brought back memories of my youth when Singing revolution was taking place in the Baltic countries. Human voice was the only weapon that people used to express their determination for freedom and independence. Voice is our first and the very last instrument we have in our lifetime. Thinking in these terms brings almost a sacred dimension to the voice as an expression of the life itself - from the very first baby's scream until the last breath and whisper.

Duration c. 15'

The works of New York -based Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (b. 1973) have been lauded as breathtaking and profoundly moving. Her stimulating music bristles with energy and tension and revolves often around the subject of beauty, which she calls both a guiding principle and an aesthetic measure for sonic quality.

SKU: HL.49019922

ISBN 9790001196215. German - French.

Mit seinen Sieben geistlichen Gesangen stellt Giacomo Meyerbeer einmal mehr unter Beweis, dass er nicht nur als Opernkomponist Epochales hinterlassen, sondern auch einige 'Schatze der Chormusik' geschaffen hat. Seinen vierstimmigen religiosen Gesangen liegen mehrstrophige Texte von Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock zugrunde. Ursprunglich schrieb Meyerbeer diese von aufklarerischer Frommigkeit durchstromten Liedmotetten 1812 fur solistisches Vokalensemble. Knapp 30 Jahre spater brachte er sie dann, erweitert um Optionen fur eine wechselweise chorische und solistische Ausfuhrung und eine (intonationssichernde) Klavierbegleitung ad libitum, zweisprachig (deutsch/franzosisch) heraus. Eine gut zu bewaltigende, aber dennoch sehr wirkungsvolle Repertoirebereicherung fur jeden ambitionierten Laien- bzw. Kirchenchor.

SKU: BT.DHP-0991451-050

English.

Pacific Dreams describes the experience of Miguel, a traveling composer from Spain who, feeling somewhat alienated from his homeland, is wandering through an area of Sydney known as The Rocks. At a small outdoor market in a typical street of this oldcolonial neighbourhood, he discovers a print of William DeShazos painting Pacific Dreams Portrayed in the painting is the surf of one of the exotic islands in the Pacific. Next, with the impressive Sydney Harbour Bridge looming over the narrowstreets of The Rocks, he envisions sultry Pacific beaches. Suddenly a theme he once composed about the lakes in Japan comes to him. Is it the Asian influences present in cosmopolitan Sydney that bring this theme to mind? Or perhaps the waters aroundSydney, over which he could sail to Tahiti? He is uncertain. Could this same theme be used to create a new composition about his feelings for the metropolis Sydney? How then to work his Pacific Dreams into the mix? Miguel is certainly no fan ofHawaiian music. Mayby he could use the vocabularies of islands like Hawaii and Tahiti, their beautiful vowel combinations being sung ad libitum by a mixed choir.With these ideas and his newly purchased print of Pacific Dreams, he boards the Metroat Circular Quay. He has a final glimpse of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House as the train races into the ground. On to the hotel! To work! He must compose!Maestoso : Miguel is impressed as he gazes upon the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And yet, hewants to go away from this city. Away, to an exotic island in the Pacific.Steady Rock : In the Rocks, musicians are playing at a square. Miguel basks in the atmosphere but at the same time he is fantasizing about Hawaii and Tahiti.Andante Lamentoso :In his hotel room, Miguel is feeling sad and lonely in this big city. He takes comfort in his Pacific Dreams.Allegro : Miguel boards the boat that takes him from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. In his mind he is traveling on to Hawaii. Or is ithome, where the bolero is playing? He is pulled back to reality by the skyline of Sydney.

Wir schlüpfen in die Haut von Miguel und reisen mit ihm nach Australien. Einigermaßen entfremdet von seiner spanischen Heimat schlendert er durch das Viertel The Rocks in Sydney. Auf einem kleinen Markt entdeckt er einen Druck des Gemäldes Pacific Dreams von William DeShazo. Das Bild stellt die Meeresbrandung auf einer exotischen Insel im Pazifik dar. Während die eindrucksvolle Harbour Bridge von Sidney vor ihm auftaucht, ist er in Gedanken bei den heißen Stränden im Stillen Ozean. Auf einmal kommt ihm das Thema in den Sinn, das er einst über die Gewässer Japans komponiert hatte. Liegt es an den asiatischen Einflüssen, die im kosmopolitischen Sydney so vielfältig vertretensind? Oder sind es die Wasser rund um Sydney, über die er nach Tahiti segeln könnte? Er ist sich unsicher. Könnte er genau dieses Thema für eine neue Komposition über die Metropole Sydney verwenden? Wie sollte er seine Träume vom Pazifik, seine Pacific Dreams, in diese Mixtur einbringen? Vielleicht könnte er den Wortschatz von Inseln wie Hawaii und Tahiti für seine Komposition verwenden. Und einen gemischten Chor die schönen Vokalverbindungen ad libitum singen lassen. Mit diesen Ideen im Kopf steigt er in die Metro am Circular Quay. Auf ins Hotel und frisch ans Werk! Jetzt muss er einfach komponieren....

SKU: PE.EP72698A

ISBN 9790577010519. 210 x 297mm inches. English.

Commissioned by Making Music with funds from the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Foundation

First performance: 12th March 2016, Waltham Singers, conducted by Andrew Fardell, King Edward's Grammar School, Chelmsford.

Music runs through the story of Arion, which begins with a singing competition in Sicily. Arion wins the prize, and this puts his life in danger: his newfound wealth excites the Greed of the sailors who are supposed to be bringing him back to Corinth, and they threaten to kill him.  They allow Arion to sing one last song, and the power of his singing attracts dolphins to the ship.  At The End of his song, he jumps overboard, and one of the dolphins carries him to safety.  So Arion’s musical gift gets him into trouble, but it is also his salvation.  

The idea of being rescued by a music-loving dolphin is very appealing.  In Robert Graves’ account of the myth, the dolphin could not bear to be parted from Arion, and accompanied him back to court, where “it soon succumbed to a life of luxury.”  However, Herodotus says that, after his rescue and return to Corinth, Arion failed to return the dolphin to the sea, and it died there.  Apollo placed the dolphin among the stars, and next to it, Arion’s lyre, in recognition of his musical skill.  This is one of the mythical explanations of the origins of the constellations Delphinus and Lyra.

It seems natural to sing a story that has singing at its heart.  When I was asked by the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust to write a choral work for Making Music, something that would be within reach of many choirs, and involve children, this story struck me as ideal: the men of the chorus could be the bloodthirsty sailors, and the women could create an atmosphere of mystery for the arrival of the dolphins, represented by children’s voices.  There would be one solo voice: Arion, the marvellous singer.  Andrew Fardell, the conductor who was advisor to this commission, had suggested that I might use the same instrumentation as a popular arrangement of Orff’s Carmina Burana, a work that, as well as using children’s chorus, features a solo countertenor.  I thought the magical, otherworldly quality of this voice would help to convey the extraordinary effect Arion’s singing had on all who heard it. 

- Jonathan Dove