Modern Music  ~William Billings
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
William Billings' delightful song from The New England Psalm-Singer lends the title for the Pittsburgh Camerata's second compact disc. Indeed, save for the Billings, all works on this recording are of modern invention, twentieth-century American creations.

We are met for a Concert of modern Invention;
To tickle the Ear is our present Intention.
The Audience are seated expecting to be treated
With a Piece of the Best.

And since we all agree to set the Tune on E,
The Author's darling Key he prefers to the Rest,

Let the Bass take the Lead and firmly proceed,
Till the Parts are agreed to fuge away.
Let the Tenor succeed and follow the Lead,
Till the Parts are agreed to fuge away.
Let the Counter inspire the Rest of the Choir,
Inflam'd with Desire to fuge away.
Let the Treble in the Rear no longer forbear,
But expressly declare for a Fuge away.

Then change to brisker Time
And up the Ladder climb, and down again;
Then mount the second Time and end the Strain.

Then change the Key to pensive Tones
and slow in treble Time; the Notes exceeding low
Keep down a While, then rise by slow Degrees;
The Process surely will not fail to please.
Thro' Common and Treble we jointly have run;
We'll give you their Essence compounded in one.
Altho' we are strongly attach'd to the Rest,
Six-four is the Movement that pleases us best.

And now we address you as Friends to the Cause;
Performers are modest and write their own Laws.
Altho' we are sanguine and clap at the Bars,
'Tis the Part of the Hearers to clap their Applause.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree  ~(1993) Andrew Kohn
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
The Lake Isle of Innisfree for women's voices and A Drinking Song for three equal voices both employ a light piano accompaniment and were originally written for the Women's Chorale at the University of Pittsburgh. The poetry of William Butler Yeats' The Lake Isle of Innisfree fondly anticipates the peace and solitude of life amidst Irish isles. The musical structure reflects that of the text, dividing into two sections, each introduced by the swiftly rising melodic line - and emotional expectations - of "I will arise and go now." Harmonic colors and melodic contours sensitively combine to capture the poet's deep resolve for a more simple existence.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
and a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
and live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there,
   for peace comes dropping slow,
dropping from the veils of the morning
   to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
and evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
while I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
          - Poetry by William Butler Yeats

Alleluia  ~Randall Thompson
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
Randall Thompson's Alleluia and Barber's Agnus Dei need little introduction to choral aficionados. Both are beloved classics of the repertoire. Both speak in long, controlled phrases which gradually rise to fortissimo climaxes before their final pianissimo resolutions. Along with these choral equivalents of high art song, this disc includes several contemporary arrangements of traditional American tunes. Their direct expression and honest energy capture yet another hallmark of American choral style.

Four Inscapes  ~(1996) Andrew Kohn
I. Spring
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
Andrew Kohn's Four Inscapes on poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins...

In Four Inscapes, the voices of both poet and composer probe "deep-down things" - the landscape of the soul's inner being. This complex (and exquisitely musical) poetry arises from Hopkins' religious beliefs and frustrations. In the first movement, the poet seizes the freshness of Spring as a manifestation of mankind's innocent beginnings. The musical setting unfolds in large phrases, opening with a graciously extroverted four-part texture which "strikes like lightning to hear" the wood thrush sing.

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring-
   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
   Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing.
   The glassy pear tree leaves and blooms, they brush
   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
   A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. - Have, get, before it cloy,
   Before it cloud, Christ, Lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
   Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
- Poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Four Inscapes  ~(1996) Andrew Kohn
II. Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
   Lilly Abreu, Solo Soprano

Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
Spring and Fall is a study in melodic shape and textural contour, all inspired by the poetic image of falling autumn leaves. Two large phrases unfold in a quasi-mirror fashion. The first conveys the grief of a child (the titular "Spring") in a largely dissonant expansion from two to four higher voice parts. The second phrase's reduction from four to two lower voice parts employs more mellow sonorities to comfort the child with the wisdom of age (the titular "Fall").

Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed,
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
- Poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Four Inscapes  ~(1996) Andrew Kohn
III. Justus quidem tu es, Domine,
           si disputem tecum

Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
The troubled third movement divides into three sections. The poet first drives a series of hard questions to his God, each musically derived from the opening tenor melody. This unifying thread is heard in inversion at "Why do sinners' ways prosper" and in varied form four more times. The middle section recalls more pastoral material from the first movement, while the last section breaks into sudden and painful despair that culminates in a harsh plea for spiritual and poetic sustenance.

Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum
(Jeremiah 12:1)
Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With Thee; but, Sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavor end?
Wert Thou my enemy, O Thou my friend,
How wouldst Thou worse, I wonder, than Thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,
Sir, life on Thy cause. See, banks and brakes
Now, leaved how thick! laced they are again
With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes
Them; birds build - but not I build; no, but strain,
Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou Lord of life, send my roots rain.
- Poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Four Inscapes  ~(1996) Andrew Kohn
IV. The Windhover
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In The Windhover, wafting currents of accompanying voices support a soaring melody which glides from one vocal part to another. As a symbol for Christ, the spiritual fire generated by the falcon energizes and affirms, even as mere embers of that flame fall to earth.

The Windhover: To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dauphin,
   dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
   Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
   As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
   Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, - the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
   Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
   No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
   Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
- Poetry by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Lark     ~Aaron Copland
   Glenn Rudolph, Solo Tenor

Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In contrast to the soaring lines of The Windhover, Copland's Lark hops to the first rays of dawn with dance-like vitality. A solo baritone leads the six-part divided ensemble into an ever more lively melange, culminating with full-blown wonder at the sun's ascent.

O Lark, O Lark, from great dark arise!
O Lark of Light, from great dark arise!

O Lark of Light, O Lightness like a spark,
Shock ears and stun our eyes singing the 
  dayrise, the great dayrise!

O Lark, O Lark, from great dark arise!

O Lark of Light, Lark, Rise!
O Believer, Rejoicer, Say,
O Lark, alert, Lark, Rise!
Say, before Evidence of Day, The Sun is risen!
O Lark, alive, Lark, Rise!
Where no Sun is, Come loudly in the air!
O Lark of Light, Lark, Rise!

Let ear and eye prepare to see and hear, truly to see and hear,
To hear thy threefold welcome in the air, To see all dazzle after long despair,
O Lark of Light, Lark, Rise!

To see what none may see now, Singer, fair!
Singer, fair, so fair!
O Lark, alert,
O lovely, lovely, chanting, arrow Lark,
Sprung like an arrow from the bow of dark,
O Lark, arise!
Sing the dayrise, the great dayrise!
- Poetry by Genevieve Taggard

A Drinking Song  ~(1995) Andrew Kohn
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
The Lake Isle of Innisfree for women's voices and A Drinking Song for three equal voices both employ a light piano accompaniment and were originally written for the Women's Chorale at the University of Pittsburgh.

From its unison opening, the melody of A Drinking Song (poetry by Yeats) spins into a gentle three-part canon which subtly evokes the warm glow of wine and love, both well savoured.

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
    ~ Poetry by William Butler Yeats

Sourwood Mountain    ~arr. John Rutter
  James R. Heinrich, Solo Tenor
  Jason Healey, Solo Baritone
  Dennis Bender, Solo Bass
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
...this disc includes several contemporary arrangements of traditional American tunes. Their direct expression and honest energy capture yet another hallmark of American choral style.

Sourwood Mountain
Sourwood mountain, Sourwood mountain,
Hi-o, diddle-i-day.

Chickens are crowin' on Sourwood Mountain,
Get your dog and we'll go huntin',

Chickens are crowin' on Sourwood Mountain,
Pretty girls and you can't count 'em,
My true love's a blue-eyed daisy,
If I don't get her I'll go crazy,

My true love she lives on the river,
Won't be long until I'm with her,

Hi-o, Hi-o, diddle-i, diddle-i-day.

Black Sheep    ~arr. John Rutter
  Suzannah Waldo, Solo Soprano
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
...this disc includes several contemporary arrangements of traditional American tunes. Their direct expression and honest energy capture yet another hallmark of American choral style.
Black Sheep
Black sheep, black sheep, Where d'you leave your lamb?
Way down in the valley.

Birds and the butterflies a-flutterin' by.
Poor little thing cryin' 'Mammy'.

Black sheep, black sheep, Where d'you leave your lamb?
Way down in the valley.

My mother told me before she went away
To take good care of the baby,
But I went out to play and the baby ran away.
And the poor little thing cryin' 'Mammy'.

Black sheep, black sheep, Where d'you leave your lamb?
Way down in the valley.

Peter Quince at the Clavier  ~(1994) Glenn Rudolph
I. Just as my fingers on these keys make music
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In Peter Quince at the Clavier, the Biblical story of Susanna and the Elders inspires the poet's musings on the desires ignited by his own beloved. The musical setting is rich in word painting. To give but a few examples: the unison opening recalls simple piano preparatory exercises; a single line depicts the waking passions of the elders; clear, green waters are invoked with liquid chords; "woven scarves" flutter melodically while cymbals crash and horns roar on tone clusters. Throughout, natural speech patterns generate rhythmic energy. The texture of the third movement, "Soon, with a noise like tambourines," was inspired by Debussy's chanson, Quant j'ay ouy le tabourin, with ostinato-like lower parts accompanying a solo mezzo-soprano voice.

Just as my fingers on these keys make music
Just as my fingers on these keys
Make music, so the selfsame sounds
On my spirit make a music, too.

Music is feeling, then, not sound;
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,

Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna.

Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders watching, felt

The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.

Peter Quince at the Clavier  ~ (1994) Glenn Rudolph
II. In the green water, clear and warm
   David Cooke, Solo tenor

Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In Peter Quince at the Clavier, the Biblical story of Susanna and the Elders inspires the poet's musings on the desires ignited by his own beloved. The musical setting is rich in word painting. To give but a few examples: the unison opening recalls simple piano preparatory exercises; a single line depicts the waking passions of the elders; clear, green waters are invoked with liquid chords; "woven scarves" flutter melodically while cymbals crash and horns roar on tone clusters. Throughout, natural speech patterns generate rhythmic energy. The texture of the third movement, "Soon, with a noise like tambourines," was inspired by Debussy's chanson, Quant j'ay ouy le tabourin, with ostinato-like lower parts accompanying a solo mezzo-soprano voice.

In the green water, clear and warm
In the green water, clear and warm,
Susanna lay.
She searched
The touch of springs,
And found
Concealed imaginings.
She sighed
For so much melody.

Upon the bank, she stood
In the cool
Of spent emotions.
She felt, among the leaves,
The dew
Of old devotions.

She walked upon the grass,
Still quavering.
The winds were like her maids,
On timid feet,
Fetching her woven scarves,
Yet wavering.

A breath upon her hand
Muted the night.
She turned-
A cymbal crashed,
And roaring horns.

Peter Quince at the Clavier  ~ (1994) Glenn Rudolph
III. Soon, with a noise like tambourines
    Nara Dewar Duncan, Solo Mezzo-Soprano

Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In Peter Quince at the Clavier, the Biblical story of Susanna and the Elders inspires the poet's musings on the desires ignited by his own beloved. The musical setting is rich in word painting. To give but a few examples: the unison opening recalls simple piano preparatory exercises; a single line depicts the waking passions of the elders; clear, green waters are invoked with liquid chords; "woven scarves" flutter melodically while cymbals crash and horns roar on tone clusters. Throughout, natural speech patterns generate rhythmic energy. The texture of the third movement, "Soon, with a noise like tambourines," was inspired by Debussy's chanson, Quant j'ay ouy le tabourin, with ostinato-like lower parts accompanying a solo mezzo-soprano voice.

Soon, with a noise like tambourines
Soon, with a noise like tambourines,
Came her attendant Byzantines.

They wondered why Susanna cried
Against the elder by her side;

And as they whispered, the refrain
Was like a willow swept by rain.

Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame
Revealed Susanna and her shame.

And then, the simpering Byzantines
Fled, with a noise like tambourines.

Peter Quince at the Clavier  ~ (1994) Glenn Rudolph
IV. Beauty is momentary in the mind
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
In Peter Quince at the Clavier, the Biblical story of Susanna and the Elders inspires the poet's musings on the desires ignited by his own beloved. The musical setting is rich in word painting. To give but a few examples: the unison opening recalls simple piano preparatory exercises; a single line depicts the waking passions of the elders; clear, green waters are invoked with liquid chords; "woven scarves" flutter melodically while cymbals crash and horns roar on tone clusters. Throughout, natural speech patterns generate rhythmic energy. The texture of the third movement, "Soon, with a noise like tambourines," was inspired by Debussy's chanson, Quant j'ay ouy le tabourin, with ostinato-like lower parts accompanying a solo mezzo-soprano voice.

Beauty is momentary in the mind
Beauty is momentary in the mind-
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.

The body dies, the body's beauty lives.
So evenings die, in their green going,
A wave, interminably flowing.
So gardens die, their meek breath scenting
The cowl of winter, done repenting.
So maidens die, to the auroral
Celebration of a maiden's choral.

Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings
Of those white elders; but, escaping,
Left only Death's ironic scraping.
Now, in its immortality, it plays
On the clear viol of her memory,
And makes a constant sacrament of praise.
- Poetry by Wallace Stevens

Agnus Dei  ~Samuel Barber
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
Randall Thompson's Alleluia and Barber's Agnus Dei need little introduction to choral aficionados. Both are beloved classics of the repertoire. Both speak in long, controlled phrases which gradually rise to fortissimo climaxes before their final pianissimo resolutions.

Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
misere nobis.

Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
misere nobis.

Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem.


Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.

Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.

Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins of the world,
grant us peace.
- Transcribed from "Adagio for Strings", Op. 11

Shenandoah  ~arr. James Erb
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
...this disc includes several contemporary arrangements of traditional American tunes. Their direct expression and honest energy capture yet another hallmark of American choral style.

O Shenando', I long to see you,
And hear your rolling river,
O Shenando', I long to see you,
'Way, we're bound away,
Across the wide Missouri.

I long to see your smiling valley,
And hear your rolling river,
I long to see your smiling valley,
'Way, we're bound away,
Across the wide Missouri.

'Tis sev'n long years since last I see you,
And hear your rolling river,
'Tis sev'n long years since last I see you,
'Way, we're bound away,
Across the wide Missouri.

O Shenando', I long to see you,
And hear your rolling river,
O Shenando', I long to see you,
'Way, we're bound away,
Across the wide Missouri.

O Shenando'.

Wade in the Water  !arr. Norman Luboff
  Lynn Lipovich, Solo Soprano
Listen: Streaming RealAudio  Top of Page
...this disc includes several contemporary arrangements of traditional American tunes. Their direct expression and honest energy capture yet another hallmark of American choral style.

Wade in the Water
Wade in the water,
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

See that band all dressed in white,
God's a-gonna trouble the water,
The leader looks like an Israelite.
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

See that band all dressed in red,
God's a-gonna trouble the water,
It looks like the band that Moses led.
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

Everybody, wade in the water,
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

Production Credits     Top of Page
Project producer:  Susan T. Barclay
Project assistant:  Jim Means
Original cover art:  Kate Bazis
Booklet design:  Mary J. Ricketts; Jim Manly - DDAI

Musical producer:  Gayle Clark Kirkwood
Recording engineers:
Riccardo Schulz [tracks A1-7; A9; B1-6]*
Paul Johnston [tracks A8; B7-9]+
Assistant engineers:
Aaron Lasko, Neil Coletta [tracks A1-7; A9; B1-6]*
Editing and mastering:
Patrick Montgomery, Pittsburgh Digital Recording &
Editing Company
Recording locations:
*Church of the Ascension, Pittsburgh, PA
+Synod Hall, St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, PA
Recording dates:
*February 22, 1997 and May 13, 1997; +November, 1993
Equipment:
Schoeps Colette series microphones; Gepco cable; John Hardy
Mic Preamps; Mackie 8-bus console; Panasonic, Sony and Fostex
DAT recorders; Apple Quadra 700 and Quadra 800 computers;
Digidesign ¨ Sound Designer II; Waves ¨ TDM Plug-ins; Lexicon 300

CD manufacture:
Digital Dynamics Audio Inc.

Special thanks:
Jeanne Kohn, Church of the Ascension;
Gail Luley; Tony Mauro; Sue Ruben;
WQED-FM; Stephen Margita;
and The Pittsburgh Camerata Board of Directors

This recording is supported, in part, by a
grant from the Howard Heinz Endowment.
Copyright © 1997, The Pittsburgh Camerata, All rights reserved.
Top of Page