THIS DAY!

This program aims to use choral music to represent a complete rotation of the Earth, referencing the shifting nuances of the day as we continue down the path of the spacetime continuum. The topic of the sidereal day appealed to me for its potential for exploring tropes that describe change/uniformity, light/dark, birth/death, marvel/expectation; a few of many antithesis that occurs (often simultaneously) every day. Admittedly anthropocentric, I hope that our performance inspires gratitude, sonder, and celebration, and serves as a reminder that we all have purpose and value within a complex celestial sphere of shared responsibility.

In the first song, Sunrise by Arden Beckett, we experience a sunrise using a segment of a poem by Emily Dickinson called “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose”. You can hear the call and answer of the black-capped chickadees, the upwards chromatic movement of chords and the quickening of the words as the sun “casts it’s light” over the horizon.

After the sunrise, we have Rise Up My Love, My Fair One, words by King Solomon; this passage from Song of Solomon paints a glorious picture of new life and awakening. Set to energetic music by composer Healey Willan, it is as uplifting as it is motivating and is a well-suited selection to represent the earliest light of day.

The following work is Z. Randall Stroope’s Hodie; it is accompanied by brass and percussion. This particular edition is a revised version of it’s original, with a brand new first movement and new material throughout the second and third movements; a new day! The title’s translation is “This Day” and is our featured work of the program. All three movements are steeped in fanfare, grandeur, and glory. The text is both secular and non-secular, lending it a quality that is appropriate at any time of the year.

After Hodie is Psalm of Praise by David Brunner. It has a more laid-back, ‘jazzy’ feeling to it in both rhythm and harmony. The soulful nature of the music, with text from Psalm 104 speaks to the late-morning with it’s imagery of light as a garment; stretching out the heavens like a curtain.

This brings us to the slowest piece of the first half, Noon, by Cecil Effinger with his spot-on depiction of the title in both music and text (by Colorado’s first poet laureate, Thomas Hornsby Ferril). We can hear the heat of the day in the slow moving choir parts, the imagery of midday slumber and fragrant wafts of sage, combined with the cicada-esque intercessions by the oboe, this piece brings the listener to a place under the garish sun on the prairie at high noon!

Heading into the afternoon, the program is livened up again with an arrangement of Golden Afternoon, from Walt Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’; a post-siesta tune with lyrics based on Alice’s adventures in the garden of live flowers. It puts you in the mood for tea and jam pennies 🙂

Following an afternoon stroll in the garden comes Afternoon on a Hill by David Dickau. This joyful and positive choral piece is set to a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which expresses an appreciation for life, a reverence for nature, with an understanding that in all the splendour that unfolds around us, we are welcome but to a humble place within it.

To close the ‘day’ portion of our program, we are called Westward with the piece, Prairie Greyhounds by Jeff Smallman. This work opens with the words “I swing to the sunset land”, and serves to foretell what is to come. The piece is upbeat, with quick passages of text that tell of the railway opening the West to the world. With a toe-tapping fiddle and snare, it is as energizing as it is fun, and rounds out the themes of land, expanse, and light that have been the focus of our daytime half as we follow the path of the sun, and aptly end our first half with the words “I am the homeward bound”.

~ Intermission ~

The second half begins with the sundown, as represented by Samuel Barber’s Let Down the Bars O Death. Here, we have the reemergence of text by Emily Dickinson (re; “I’ll tell you how the sun rose”). The sombre pace and falling lines at the words “let down the bars..” and “the tired flocks…” evoke a sense of settling, while the lines between have minimal movement, suggesting a kind of suspension in time until the progression into the night can commence.

L’Heure Exquise by Ronaldo Hahn is a masterclass in imagery, both in song and text. The translation of the title is “The Exquisite Hour”; which for all intent and purposes could be placed in multiple places in the second half of this program. I chose to put it in the ‘early evening’, interpreting the moon as being high in the sky (described as ‘white’) and setting in the early evening as a waxing crescent (it will be on May 4th). This work is a reflective, lyrical moment that the audience will love.

In thinking about thematic material for ‘nighttime’, I kept coming back to nautical imagery and musical content. Therefore, the next three songs bring us further into the evening with a nautical theme. The first is Away from the Roll of the Sea by Allister McGillivray, a fluid folk-like tune that tells of boats resting in the harbour; their daytime adventures have been left on the sea. It is thought-provoking; who and what are our truest selves and how is that revealed when we are alone? What do we bring home with us, and what do we leave behind in our daily grind?

The following piece is Hunker Down by Tobin Stokes; a riveting sea shanty-esque work that sings of an approaching storm, urging the listener to “hunker down for the night”. The idea of incorporating a ‘tempest’ number in the night half was too good to pass up!

To bring it back full-circle we have Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre. This represents the calm after the storm, and a progression into the time of deep sleep. The lyrics are from a poem by Rudyard Kipling, in which a mother seal is singing to her baby, assuring its safety and describing a place where it will always find love.

Now that we are lulled to sleep, the next segment of the program looks to the stars! Our first glimpse is Sure on this Shining Night by Samuel Barber, text by James Agee, that speaks of star-made shadows; a brilliant afterlife, where in loss there are full hearts and healing.

We then move to Lightly Stepped a Yellow Star by Dan Forrest (text, again, by Emily Dickinson), where the brilliance of the stars is heard in the accompanying glocks, celeste, vibes, and various percussion instruments. I particularly like how this work ties in the reference to the Copernican celestial orbs in the Hodie through words like “lofty”, “Astral Hall”, and Forrest’s use of chords to create a ‘vastness’ using parallel octaves and fifths. It is a piece that radiates.

The third salute to the stars is Falling Stars by Kevin Padworski, using the poem of the same title by Rainer Maria Rilke; it is a dazzling piece of which the composer writes, “The poet poignantly reflects on the transient nature of existence and the importance of living in the present moment”, as well of his intention to compose meaningful and intricate music for both choir and “musician at the keys”. This piece contains a lot of star-power, where everyone shines.

Following the eleven o’clock number, we come to midnight. The selection for this is When Midnight Mists are Creeping by Greg Gilpin; a gorgeous setting of the poem “Dreamland” by Lewis Carroll. This particular work recapitulates much of what we have sung about to this point, and encases the material in a neat package that showcases our musicality and blend.

Whereas midnight is often thought of as the ‘end’ of night, I wanted our program to continue its exploration into the early hours of the morning; when it is dark, still, and yet stirring. Noche Serena felt like the perfect fit; it evokes drama and boldness. I liken the dance between night and the impending dawn to be heard in the dance between the accompaniment and choir. The text, “What it is, what it shall be, and all that was?” suggests a beautiful surrender to the night, and perhaps finding a serenity within ourselves?

To close out the program, I chose a piece with the ever larger-than-life composition-style of Ralph Vaughan Williams: Let All the World In Every Corner Sing. Our arrangement includes the addition of brass quintet with the organ. It is overflowing with exuberance and feelings of progression; looking on to what lies ahead. Tomorrow is a new day!