aLoneWorldEnds

< World Premiere > FRANK MARTIN : Messe pour double Chœur a cappella (1922) Saturday 2 November, 1963 – Hamburg, Germany Bugenhagen Kantorei, cond. Franz Brunnert Bärenreiter Verlag, 2014 (BA7594) “This mass, composed in 1922 (except for the 'Agnus Dei' which dates from 1926), was a work of my own free will, without commission or remuneration. Indeed at that time I knew of no choral conductor who could be interested in it. I never submitted it to the Society of Swiss Musicians for performance at one of their annual events. In fact I had no desire to have it performed as I was afraid it would be judged on a purely aesthetic level. As far as I was concerned it was a matter between God and myself. The same was true later on for a Christmas oratorio. I felt that religious fervour should remain private and not be influenced by public opinion. So much so that this composition remained in a drawer for forty years, included as a formality in my list of works. It was there in 1962 that the conductor of the Bugenhagen-Kantorei in Hamburg, Mr. Franz W. Brunnert, saw it mentioned and asked me to send it to him for perusal. He and his choir gave the first performance in the autumn of 1963, 41 years after it was composed. All the aforementioned shows clearly that, even though I wrote the mass for a large number of voices, it is music of an inward nature.” — Frank Martin

< World Premiere > THEA MUSGRAVE : By the River (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Sunday 1 November, 2020 – Snape Maltings, Suffolk National Youth Choir of Great Britain, cond. Ben Parry Text: Mary Ursala Bethell (1874-1945) Novello & Company, Ltd. 2019 (Nov297479) “Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

< World Premiere > WERNER WOLF GLASER : Motette über Sprüche des Angelus Silesius (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Wednesday 1 November, 2006 – Tjernigov, Ukraine Dmitri Bortnjanski Chamber Choir, dir. Otfried Richter Edition Suecia, Stockholm, 1990 (SUE 367) “... In his extensive output, Glaser developed a modernist tonal language, based on his studies under Paul Hindemith. His confident handling of melody and his inspired treatment of form bear witness to the fluency of his inspiration and to his attainment of a personal style of craftsmanship. Momentum and elaboration techniques were among the guiding starts of his imagination. His distinctive characteristics also included a sense of expressionist gesture. He prefered to achieve the expressive quality of his music by short, strict means instead of allowing the tonal material to overflow. Glaser greatly valued the capacity of the musical language for conveying intensity in pared-down, controlled figures.”

< World Premiere > KALEVI AHO : Rejoicing in the Deep Waters Wednesday 1 November, 1995 – Lahti, Finland Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Osmo Vänskä

< World Premiere > PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Strathclyde Concerto No. 10 : Concerto for Orchestra Wednesday 30 October, 1996 – City Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Scottish Chamber Orchestra, cond. Peter Maxwell Davies Boosey & Hawkes Ltd., 1997 (HPS 1312) "The Concerto for Orchestra ends the cycle of ten 'Strathclyde' concertos, which I have written for the principals of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra over a period of several years. It extends virtuosity to all members of the orchestra — even back-desk players find themselves suddenly spotlit, playing chords alone in the first movement." — Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016)

< World Premiere > AARON JAY KERNIS : Glorious Majesty (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir & soli) Sunday 27 October, 2013 Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, cond. Philip Brunelle Associated Music Publishers, 2013 (AMP 8278) ... this 9-minute setting of Psalm 104 is described by the composer as “overflowing with the glories of creation, earth, and the heavens.” 'Glorious Majesty' is a work of contrasts, with sections performed by both large and small groups of singers, as well as shifting moods and harmonies, “to highlight the distinction between passages in the text that praise God and those that praise God's creation.”

< World Premiere > KAIKHOSRU SHAPURJI SORABJI : Fantasia Ispanica, KSS55 Friday 26 October, 2001 Great Hall, King’s College, London University, England Jonathan Powell, Piano solo

< World Premiere > JAN CARLSTEDT : Missa in Honorem Papae Ioannis Pauli II (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Thursday 21 October, 1993 Uppsala Academy Chamber Choir, dir. Stefan Parkman Musikaliska Konstföreningen, Stockholm, 1995

< World Premiere > LENNOX BERKELEY : The Hill of the Graces, Op. 91, No. 2 (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Monday 20 October, 1975 BBC Singers, cond. John Poole J & W Chester, 1977 (JWC 55062) Text : Edmund Spenser – 'The Fairie Queene', Book VI, Canto X

< World Premiere > PHILIPPE HERSANT : Le Plasir Originel (Mystère Hystérique) (for unaccompanied S. Mz. A. Ct. T. Bar. B. soli) Saturday 19 October, 2002 La Chapelle Largeau, France (Festival Eclats de Voix) Les Jeunes Solistes, dir. Rachid Safir Gérard Billaudot Éditeur Paris, 2008 (GB8381) Text: Edmond Haraucourt “L'Eden” (from 'La Légende des Sexes Poëmes Hystériques', 1882)

<World Premiere > ALEC ROTH : I Will Move Thee Sunday 18 October, 2015 – St. Alban Cathedral, England St. Alban Cathedral Choir, dir. Andrew Lucas Text : George Herbert (1593–1633) Edition Peters Ltd. London, 2015 (EP 72743)

< World Premiere > PAUL HINDEMITH : Fünfstimmige Madrigale nach Texten von Josef Weinheber (for unaccompanied SSATB choir) Saturday 18 October, 1958 – Vienna, Austria Wiener Kammerchor, cond. Paul Hindemith Schott Music GmbH & Co., 1958

< World Premiere > GABRIEL JACKSON : A Vision of Aeroplanes for unaccompanied choir (6S. 4A. 4T. 4B.) Friday 17 October, 1997 – St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, England The BBC Singers, cond. Simon Joly “Although it takes its title from Vaughan Williams, the model for 'A Vision of Aeroplanes' is the large-scale votive antiphon of the late 15th century (as exemplified by the pieces in the Eton Choirbook) with its sequence of richly scored tuttis alternating with reduced-voice sections (here scored for solo voices). The names of various aircraft are encrypted into the score : the structural proportions are derived from that of what is undoubtedly the most beautiful ever built - the AEROSPATIALE/BAC CONCORDE . The tutti sections (and the double gimell at 'Tandem dominationem') are each based on a different cantus firmus; these canti firmi are not of plainchant origin but are plainchant substitutes derived, again, from the names of some of the most significant aircraft in the development of aviation. They appear in the piece in the chronological order of their construction: WRIGHT FLYER, SOPWITH CAMEL, SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE, DE HAVILLAND COMET, AVRO VULCAN, HAWKER HARRIER, LOCKHEED BLACKBIRD, DASSAULT BREGUET MIRAGE, BOEING 747 and NORTHROP B2.” — Gabriel Jackson

< World Premiere > TORSTEN RASCH : ... in der Hülse von Schnee (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Thursday 16 October, 2014 Kammermusiksalle, Berlin Philharmonie, Germany RIAS Kammerchor Texts: Friedrich Hölderlin Faber Music Ltd., 2014

<World Premiere > KENNETH LEIGHTON : Laudate Pueri (Psalm 112) (for three unaccompanied SATB choirs) Saturday 13 October, 1973 – Norwich Cathedral, England Choirs of Ely, Norwich, & Peterborough Cathedrals, cond. Michael Nicholas Novello & Company Limited, 1973

< World Premiere > ERNST PEPPING : Ein jegliches hat seine Zeit (for unaccompanied SATB choir) Saturday 9 October, 1937 – Berlin Chor der Spandauer Kirchenmusikschule, dir. Gottfried Grote Text : Ecclesiastes 3, 9 and 12 Schott Music GbmH & Co., 1938 (C35359)

< World Premiere > ERNST KRENEK : Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae, Op. 93 (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Sunday 5 October, 1958 - Martinskirche, Kassel, Germany N.C.R.V. Vocaal Ensemble, dir. Marinus Voorberg Bärenreiter Verlag, 1957 (BA 3648) “The 'Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae' was composed during the winter of 1941 to 1942, when I was professor of music at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. While I do not now remember in detail the circumstances attending my decision to set to music this particular text, I feel that the generally sinister mood of the first years of World War II undoubtedly enhanced my interest in the powerful expression of grief and anguish as laid down in the Book of the Prophet.” — Ernst Krenek

< World Premiere > CAROL BARNETT : The Last Invocation Sunday 2 October, 1988 – Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis Choir of Westminster Abbey, dir. Martin Neary Text: Walt Whitman Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., 1992 (OCTB6654)

ERNST PEPPING : Deines Lichtes Glanz (for unaccompanied SATB divisi choir) Sunday 1 October, 1967 – Berlin Staats- und Domchor Berlin, dir. Gottfried Grote Bärenreiter Verlag, 1967 (Nr. 3520)

< World Premiere > ELLIOTT CARTER : String Quartet No. 5 Tuesday 19 September, 1995 – De Singel, Antwerp, Belgium The Arditti Quartet “One of the fascinations of attending rehearsals of chamber music, when excellent players try out fragments of what they later will play in the ensemble, then play it, and then stop abruptly to discuss how to improve, is that this pattern is so similar to our inner experience of forming, ordering, focussing, and bringing to fruition — and then dismissing — our feelings and ideas. These patterns of human behavior form the basis of the 5th String Quartet. Its introduction presents the players, one by one, trying out fragments of later passages from one of the six short, contrasting ensemble movements, at the same time maintaining a dialogue with each other. Between each of the movements the players discuss in different ways what has been played and what will be played. In this score the matter of human cooperation with its many aspects of feeling and thought was a very important consideration.” – Elliott Carter