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SATB a cappella
Level of Difficulty: easy
Duration: 2’ |
USA:
Randall
Egan EC-361 |
A
straight-forward arrangement of the beloved Kirkpatrick tune, suitable
for church, school, and community choirs; also works well as a quartet.
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This
work was commissioned by Spiritus Chamber Choir, Calgary, Janet
Youngdahl, conductor in 2004. |
SSATB
Text: from William Baldwin's translation (1553) of the Song of Solomon
Level of Difficulty: moderate
Duration: 5' |
Canada:
Canadian
Music Centre
Manuscript |
Christ My Beloved
Christ my Beloved
which still doth feed
Among the flowers, having delight
Among his faithful lilies,
Doth take great
care for me indeed,
And I again with all my might
Will do what so his will is.
My Love in me, and
I in him,
Conjoined by love will still abide
Among the faithful lilies.
Till day do break,
and truth do dim
All shadows dark, and cause them slide
According as his will is.
William
Baldwin (c. 1515-1563)
from The Canticles of Salomon (1549)
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SSA
and piano, (also SATB and TTBB)
Text: Frederick Wetherley
Moderately easy
Duration: 3’
Unpublished - contact composer |
Listen
to the SSA arrangement from Concerto Della Donna's beautiful
CD (parlez-moi 2011).
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Listen
to:
Allan
Bevan's
Fairest
Lord Jesus, arr.
from
THE VOICE OF MY PRAYER
The
King's University College
Concert Choir
Chamber Choir
and Community Chorus
King's Music Faculty and Guests
Dr.
Melanie Turgeon, Conductor
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SATB
organ, brass octet (4 trp. 3 trb. tba) tmp. and perc.
Also
available for:
SATB, organ, brass quintet, tmp. and perc.
Canadian Music Centre
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Duration: 3’30’
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This
is an arrangement of the well-known Crusader's Hymn (uses public domain
text from mid-nineteenth century) for mixed chorus, optional audience,
brass octet, organ and percussion.
This
arrangement was
commissioned by the CBC Radio Two program Choral Concert
for the "Easter Sunrise Celebration" April 15, 2001 in Edmonton,
Alberta.
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SATB TTBB |
TTBB
and piano
or SATB and piano
Difficulty: Moderate
Duration:5' |
Classica
Music Publishers. |
Full fathom five
thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Hark! Now I hear them, - Ding-dong, bell.
excerpt
from: William Shakespeare's The Tempest
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| Commissioned
by Da Camera Singers, Edmonton in 2004, and first performed by them on March
13, 2005. Other choirs that have performed Fathom are Chor Leoni
and the University of Guelph Chamber Singers. The SATB arrangement was completed
in June 2007. |
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GENTLE
MARY LAID HER CHILD
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In 2005, Gentle Mary was translated into both Dutch and German
and is available through the European Choral Club.
view
SATB-SSA-TTBB-SAB |
1)
SATB and piano
2) SSA and pno.
3) SAB and pno.
4) TTBB and pno.
Text: Joseph Simpson Cook
Level of Difficulty: easy
Duration: 3’ |
Canada:
Canadian
International
USA:
J.W. Pepper
Europe:
Unisong
Music Publishers |
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This
is one of Allan Bevan's more accessible choral works. The optional solo
in all of the versions is very ‘mid-range', and suitable for all
types of voices. In each of the four versions the second verse is harmonized
and intended to be sung unaccompanied. The last verse is for unison choir
and descant. The four published arrangements appear in three different
keys and can be interchanged if desired. The first version was the SATB
piece which was composed in 1994, followed by the SSA in 1995. Both of
these were part of the very first group of publications released by Canadian
International Music in 1996 (and Lorenz Corporation in the U.S.A.) The
SAB and TTBB versions of the work were completed in 2000 and published
in 2001. A complete recording (SATB) is available at J.W. Pepper, and
any of the four versions are obtainable through Sheetmusic.com and Music
44, among other well-known retailers. |
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.PDF
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SATB a cappella
Level of Difficulty: medium
Duration: 3’ |
Classica
Music Publishers
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I
Got Me Flowers is the latter half of George Herbert's poem,
Easter, selected from his collection of sacred poetry The
Temple (published posthumously in 1633). Herbert was raised in
a politically-ambitious and wealthy family, attended Cambridge and was
an MP for two years. He gave this up in favour of the priesthood, serving
at a small parish near Salisbury where he wrote much of his poetry.
Herbert
is grouped together with other seventeenth-century "metaphysical"
poets such as John Donne and Henry Vaughan (see Allan Bevan's Three
Motets on Texts of Henry Vaughan). The "metaphysicals"
are appreciated for their striking imagery and for their metrical innovations.
I Got Me Flowers describes events of Holy Week and Easter in a personal
manner. The "flowers to straw thy way" bring to mind Christ's
triumphnat entry into Jerusalem, while the remainder of the poem concerns
itself with Easter Day, declaring it incomparable amongst the "three
hundred" other days of the year.
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LOVE
COME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS |
View
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SATB
and piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
Easy
Duration: 5’ |
Cantate
Music Press CAN1060 |
This
work has been beautifully sung by Da Camera Singers (a 1999 commission),
Pro Coro Canada, and The University of Calgary Chamber Choir. |
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The
arrangement was commissioned by Chorale Saint-Jean, Edmonton
for their tour of Quebec in July, 2005. |
SATB
and piano, with Mezzo-soprano solo
Text: Traditional and France Levasseur-Ouimet
Level of Difficulty: easy
Duration: 3'30" |
Editions ACQ
L'Alliance des chorales du Québec ACQ446B-CHA |
Recorded on:
Toi, moi, tout un monde,
Mon clair de la lune
Chorale
Saint-Jean,
Dr. Laurier
Fagnan, artistic director,
Catherine Kubash, assistant director
Jane Fagnan, accompanist
This
piece combines the traditional French folk tune Mon Ami Pierrot
with new material. Text is in French but is familiar enough to be
picked up easily by non-francophone choral groups. The setting is
accessible and fun to perform. You will need a solo voice that can
project below middle C.
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Recorded
on:
Echoes,
ten years of song
I
Coristi Chamber Choir
Dr.
Debra Cairns, conductor
www.icoristi.com
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SATB
a cappella
Text: Francis Ledwidge
Moderately
difficult
Duration: 5’ |
Unpublished |
Commissioned by I Coristi,
Dr. Debra Cairns, conductor, for their tenth anniversary season, this
piece sets a haunting poem by Francis Ledwidge entitled My Mother.
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NOU
GOTH SONNE UNDER WODE
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Listen
I.
Why Have Ye No Reuthe On My Child?
II. Nou Goth Sonne Under Wode
III. Kyrie
IV. O Vos Omnes-Christe Alleluia
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SATB
chorus, male narrator, soprano solo, and chamber orchestra (2ob., 2hrn.,timp.,
perc.[1 player], hrp., org., strings).
Text: Latin and Middle English poetry
Level of Difficulty:
soprano-moderate,
chorus-moderate, orchestra-moderately easy.
Duration: 30' |
classica
Music
Publishers
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Premiered
in 2005 by Pro Coro Canada and the Pro Coro Chamber Orchestra, Timothy
Anderson, narrator; Jolaine Kerley, soprano;
Richard Sparks, conductor.
Winspear Centre in Edmonton, Alberta
Pro
Coro's 2007 performance was broadcast on CBC Radio 2, Choral Concert
Sunday, February 17, 2008.
Premiere
Review:
"It
was Mozart's Requiem that drew 1,700 people to Pro Coro's Good Friday
concert, but it was the world premier of Bevan's Nou Goth Sonne Under
Wode that propelled them to their feet at its conclusion, and for good
reason.
...The choir, soloist Jolaine Kerley, narrator Timothy Anderson and
a select group of Edmonton Symphony players delivered what sounded like
it could be a definitive performance of this contemporary work...Anderson
did a theatrically accomplished job of conveying the persona of Christ
in His excruciating last hours and as raconteur of the gospel story
about Jesus' physical and psychological torment on the cross...[The]
Kyrie is technically masterful and moving...almost pastoral, as though
the deity addressed were the great consoler...Bevan's orchestration
is full of fine detail right down to some imaginative timpani parts..."
-Bill
Rankin,
The Edmonton Journal,
March 27th, 2005.
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The
Composer's Guild's described Nou Goth Sonne Under Wode
as, "A marvelous work...impressed by the intellectual and emotional
breadth, [and] beautiful counterpoint." The "instrumental
parts are haunting, the key relationships striking. What a piece!"
********
"
The audience’s overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to Pro Coro
Canada’s world-premiere performance of Allan Bevan’s ingenious
composition certifies this work as a modern-day classic. You will not
want to miss this performance!"
--Pro
Coro Canada.
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O
LORD, INCREASE MY FAITH
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SATB
a cappella
Text: Trad.
Easy
Duration: 2’ |
Randall Egan EC-363 |
This
was composed in 1980 (rev. 1996), published 2002.
Allan Bevan's first choral work!
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View
Recorded
on:
My
Soul, There is a Country...
University
of Alberta Madrigal Singers
Leonard
Ratzlaff, conductor
listen
to the University of Alberta
Madrigal Singers
Songs
of the Soul
I
Coristi Chamber Choir,
Debra Cairns, conductor
Three
Motets on Texts of Henry Vaughan
i. The Eclipse
ii. The Revival
iii. Peace |
SATB
a cappella
Text: Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)
Moderately difficult
Duration: 3'30" |
CLASSICA Music
Publishers
www.classica.ca |
The
final number of Three Motets on Texts of Henry Vaughan, Peace
was composed in 2001 and first sung and recorded on, My Soul There
is a Country by the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers,
Leonard Ratzlaff, conductor. Under assistant conductor, Ardelle Ries,
Peace was part of the 2002 tour repertoire of the Madrigal
Singers and was one of the choir’s submissions to the CBC Competition
for Amateur Choirs.
This work was released by classica
Music Publishers in the fall of 2004.
Peace
was chosen from among 45 submissions by Canadian composers as the
winning work in the 2002 Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition,
sponsored by Choirs Ontario.Recently, the "Mads" performed
Peace at the ACDA convention in Los Angeles in February 2005.
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Recorded
on:
Centennial
Choral Celebration
Dr.
Leonard Ratzlaff, conductor
listen to the
Centennial Choir |
Mixed
Voices and piano
Text: Alice Meynell
Moderate
Duration:
7' |
The
Canadian Music Centre |
Singers to Come
Singers to come,
what thoughts will start
To song? What words of yours be sent
Through man’s soul, and with earth be blent?
These worlds of nature and the heart
Await you like an instrument.
Who knows what musical
flocks of words
Upon these pine-tree tops will light,
And crown these towers in circling flight,
And cross these seas like summer birds,
And give a voice to the day and night?
Something of you
already is ours;
Some mystic part of you belongs
To us whose dreams your future throngs,
Who look on hills, and trees, and flowers,
Which will mean so much in your songs.
-Alice
Meynell (1847-1922)
A Poet’s Fancies IX
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SATB
a cappella
Text: Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)
Moderately difficult
Duration: 3'30" |
CLASSICA Music
Publishers
www.classica.ca |
Recorded
on:
Songs
of the Soul
I
Coristi Chamber Choir,
Debra Cairns, conductor
Three
Motets on Texts of Henry Vaughan
i. The Eclipse
ii. The Revival
iii. Peace
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Look
inside
Also Available for SSAA
|
SATB
a cappella OR
Text: St. Jean de Brebeuf (1593-1659)
translated by J. Edgar Middleton (1872-1960)
Level of Difficult: Easy
Duration: 2' 30" |
Canada:
Canadian International Music CIM-1016
U.S.A: Lorenz Corp.
J.W. Pepper
sheetmusicplus
music44 |
Recorded on:
Balulalow
University of Alberta Madrigal Singers
Leonard Ratlaff, conductor
In
Dulci Jubilo
The Choirs of Christ Church Cathedral Montreal
Patrick Wedd, conductor
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THE
SOULS OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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View |
SATB
a cappella
Text: Wisdom 3: 1-3 (Apocrypha)
Easy-medium
Duration: 2’ |
Randall
Egan EC-362 |
This
piece was composed in 1985 (published 2002) as a memorial for my father.
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THE
SOULS OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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View
listen to Chor Leoni
The
work was broadcast on the CBC program “This Morning”
as part of a tribute to the Canadian soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan
in April 2002. |
TTBB
a cappella
alternate setting for SATB*
Text: Wisdom 3:1-3
Moderate |
Classica
Music Publishers.
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This
work was written specifically for men's voices. It was composed in 2000
and has since been sung on numerous occasions by Chor Leoni
of Vancouver.
"It
is so appropriate that this piece dedicated to the memory of the composer’s
father and set to a text from
Wisdom 3:1-3 be scored for men’s voices. The striking harmonies
filled with richness of phrase gesture are uncanny. Bevan loves to change
keys and seems to do it effortlessly. The range requirements for the
men are reasonable but also expand into larger demands. The basses must
have a solid C but at a triple piano. The tenors must be able to phonate
a high a2 in the tenor range on a double forte. This composer obviously
understands and is able to write for the voice in an uncanny fashion
to bring the most out of his music. The harmonies and counterpoint are
extremely effective. This lament to his father’s death has a universal
language that touches everyone."
--"The
Choral Room"
(Spring 2005)
*A
SATB version of this TTBB setting was composed in 2000. It is not exactly
the same and develops and ends differently.
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THE
TIME DRAWS NEAR THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
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listen
to Pro Coro Canada
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SATB
divisi and piano
Text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92)
Challenging
Duration: 7'30" |
Canadian Music Centre |
Text
from Tennyson's
In Memoriam
The
time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
Four
voices of four hamlets round,
From far and near, on mead and moor,
Swell out and fail, as if a door
Were shut between me and the sound:
Each
voice four changes on the wind,
That now dilate, and now decrease,
Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,
Peace and goodwill, to all mankind.
This
year I slept and woke with pain,
I almost wish'd no more to wake,
And that my hold on life would break
Before I heard those bells again:
But
they my troubled spirit rule,
For they controll'd me when a boy;
They bring me sorrow touch'd with joy,
The merry merry bells of Yule.
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This
work was commissioned by Pro Coro Canada for their Christmas concert,
December 8, 2002, and repeated Dec. 14, 2003.
REVIEWS:
..."Bevan has a great gift for choral composition. This piece gives
a choir with four strong sections the chance to shine... Bevan conveys
the reflective text by Tennyson thoughtfully, with a very coherent choice
of contemplative tempo and poignant harmonies. The unresolved chord of
the last verse is full of the ambivalence in the poem".
-
Bill Rankin,
The Edmonton Journal,
Dec. 15, 2003
“For
him Bevan’s new work is a particular thrill: ‘Singing this
piece is like putting your hand inside a favourite glove. It fits the
voice so well…But what is even more amazing is how expertly [it]
fits into the ‘glove’ of the text’ ”. …
Allison Kydd,
The
Edmonton Journal,
quoting David Garber,
a singer in Pro Coro Canada |
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THREE
MOTETS ON TEXTS OF
HENRY VAUGHAN
|
Recorded
on:
My Soul, There is a Country...
University
of Alberta Madrigal Singers
Leonard Ratzlaff, conductor
Recorded
on:
Songs of
the Soul
I
Coristi Chamber Choir,
Debra Cairns, conductor
Three
Motets on Texts of Henry Vaughan
I. The Eclipse
II. The Revival
III. Peace |
SATB
(some divisi)
a cappella
Text: Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)
Moderately difficult
Duration: 11' |
CLASSICA Music
Publishers
www.classica.ca |
| These
motets were composed between 1999 and 2001. The Revival and The
Eclipse were completed first with Peace being added later.
Unlike For A Dream's Sake, which was composed from the very beginning
as a cycle, these motets only became a group about a year and a half after
work first began. For this reason, performances of the work as separate
pieces is certainly possible, but listen to the University of Alberta
Madrigal Singers sing the complete cycle. They make a strong case for
doing them as a group.
The
three poetic texts come from different times in Vaughan's life but they
share his faith, and powerful Christian vision.
By
assembling the three previously unrelated poetic texts in the way that
I have, a 'life of Christ' from the Crucifixion to the Ascension is suggested.
Number one, The Eclipse, refers to the events of Good Friday,
while The Revival describes the Resurrection, bearing reference
to the famous passage in the Song of Solomon that Healey Willan set so
brilliantly in Rise Up My Love. The final number, Peace,
has nothing to do with peace on earth, but rather, refers to the peace
of heaven, and to the Ascension of Christ.
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TOI,
MOI, TOUT UN MONDE (arr.)
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SATB
and piano
Text: Normand Fortin and France Levasseur-Ouimet
Level of Difficulty: easy
Duration: 4'30" |
Editions
ACQ L'Alliance
des chorales du Québec
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Recorded on:
Toi, moi,
tout un monde,
Mon clair de la lune
Chorale
Saint-Jean,
Dr. Laurier Fagnan,
artistic director,
Catherine Kubash, assistant director
Jane Fagnan, accompanist
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