SSATB chorus a cappella - Digital Download

SKU: BJ.1481

Composed by HÃ¥kan Svensson. Secular. 12 pages. Bo Ejeby Forlag - Digital #1481. Published by Bo Ejeby Forlag - Digital (BJ.1481).

8.27 x 11.7 inches.

In 'The peace of wild things', the American poet Wendell Berry (born 1934) deals with existential anxiety. Though published in 1968, the message is just as urgent today. Our news feeds shower us with reports about war, climate and environmental catastrophes, and about authoritarian regimes advancing their positions. What will become of us? What kind of world are we passing on to our children?
This poem gives me a ray of hope in the midst of despair, offering a moment’s rest while my own – and all mankind’s – smallness is revealed. It also allows me to sense the presence of something greater.
My musical interpretation is based on these reflections. The conflict between anxiety and peace, dissonance and consonance, open textures versus clusters. The piece and its phrases are well-suited to interpretation, and to being performed with a great deal of freedom. – Håkan Svensson.

Choral Choir (SATB divisi) - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.841250

Composed by Chris Gordon. Contemporary. Octavo. 18 pages. Cool Wind Music Digital #3029087. Published by Cool Wind Music Digital (A0.841250).

A setting of a very powerful poem by English poet, Ted Hughes, about the onset of autumn in an English (Yorkshire) garden and the surrounding countryside.  It is full of pathos and passion, harmony and dissonance, chaos and peace - just like English weather!

This is a very individual and innovative choral setting of Hughes' poem which is, itself, rich in 'meaty' metaphor and colour - and the composer is a vegetarian! It evokes a savage Nature within a savage landscape where humans and animals compete for space and for food. It is October, the fields and woods and gardens of rural Yorkshire are readying themselves for the cold and desolation (and despair) of winter which isn't far away in time. 'A glass, half-filled with wine, left out(side) To the dark heaven all night, by dawn Has dreamed a premonition of ice across its eye as if the ice-age had begun its heave.'   That is only two and a half stanzas but you see from these lines that there are veiled threats of (Nature's) violence in the heavy tread of the poet's slowly-building angst over what is happening in the surrounding countryside - and his fear grows, and his awe grows, with every line. There is even fear underlining the very last line: 'And now it is about to start.' Winter is creeping closer and closer towards the house and it will not be pleasant to experience!

I have tried to instil a little of this in the music which keeps skidding from consonance to dissonance and back to consonance. Sometimes the dissonance piles up, like snow driven by the wind piles up into deep banks; sometimes the music relaxes into stillness and calm (painted in tonal music) like a crisp, mild late autumn or early winter's day when the sun warms the landscape and life appears bearable, tolerable. I hope this adds to the song's 'charm'. It wasn't easy to write: sometimes the right music was elusive. The music ends with the word 'October' repeated three times, with voices overlapping in a little canon. This conjures up the wistful feelings of the poet as he looks out onto a peaceful scene, soon to be filled with all manner of 'natural violence', while his inner peace will soon be shattered by the mayhem about to be unleashed around him.

Setting Ted Hughes is no easy task. It is for choirs and choirmasters to judge if I have succeeded in conveying the 'sense and sensibility' of a classic 20th century English poem.

The price is for one copy: please purchase a sufficient number of scores if you intend to perform this work. SMP Press offers discounts for multiple-copy purchases.

SATB chorus and organ or orchestra - Digital Download

SKU: OX.9780193543034

Arranged by Mack Wilberg. Sheet music. Octavo. 13 pages. Oxford University Press Digital #9780193543034. Published by Oxford University Press Digital (OX.9780193543034).

ISBN 9780193543034.

For SATB and organ or orchestra. Refreshing and moving, this arrangement is filled with strong harmonies, light suspensions, and beautiful dissonances. Instrumental material is available on hire.

Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.887375

Composed by African Traditional Tune. Arranged by Bo Kim. Christian,Holiday,Sacred. Octavo. 8 pages. Bo Kim #4812697. Published by Bo Kim (A0.887375).

The simple text of gratitude set to an African traditional tune is interwoven with a new melody that carries paraphrased verses from Psalm 136. This choral arrangement reminds us to be thankful for God's unfailing faithfulness and His governance of the universe.

Ps. 136

Vs. 1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

Vs. 5
who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.

Vs. 6
who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.

Vs. 16
to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.781144

Composed by Cathy Stamegna, Traditional, and William C. Dix. Arranged by Cathy Stamegna. Easter,Folk,Praise & Worship,Sacred. Octavo. 12 pages. Cathy Stamegna #6679323. Published by Cathy Stamegna (A0.781144).

The lyrics to What Child Is This are adapted to the scene at Calvary as Jesus is laid in His Mother’s arms. The arrangement begins with an original counter melody, Asleep In His Mother’s Arms, which is then paired with the familiar What Child Is This. Appropriate and accessible for Lent, Holy Week, Good Friday, or Penance Services.  Performance Time:  3:30.

Greensleeves - Traditional English Melody; What Child Is This Lyrics - William C. Dix; Asleep In His Mother's Arms - Cathy Stamegna.

Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.719562

Composed by Spiritual. Arranged by Curtis Hanson. A Cappella,Christian,Sacred,Spiritual. Octavo. 6 pages. Curtis Hanson #2036293. Published by Curtis Hanson (A0.719562).

This well-known Spiritual is here set for SATB chorus and piano. The haunting ostinato accompaniment permeates most of the first half of the piece. Choral harmony is at times dissonant but always resolves to a calming consonance. A brief section of the piece pays homage to the wonderful a capella setting by William Dawson.

SATB choir unaccompanied - Moderately Difficult - Digital Download

SKU: MQ.1.3481-E

Composed by William Averitt. Christmas, Christmas-Sacred. 11 pages. Duration 3 minutes, 40 seconds. Galaxy Music Corporation - Digital #1.3481-E. Published by Galaxy Music Corporation - Digital (MQ.1.3481-E).

English, Latin.

Commissioned for Choral Arts Northwest who gave its premiere performance in 2011 under their artistic director, Robert Bode. The music is primarily contrapuntal in texture, and its tonal language features a certain level of dissonance but within a diatonically modal context. There is a textual climax about two-thirds of the way through, mirrored in the music; a short quieter section follows, leading to an ecstatic “Gloria� conclusion. Duration: 3:40.