Below are the recordings from our session on April 2nd. If there were multiple takes I chose the better one to post. I am interested in your perspectives on these recordings.
A friend of mine, Erick the Malto, recently pointed me to an online resource for choral parts and sure enough the Schubert SSAA version of Psalm 23 is available!
This article appears on the website NewMusicBox.org which as you might guess specializes in the work of living composers. The list spurs important conversation about female composers that are active today and has already generated some response articles on the website.
It would be interesting to see your response if you have the time to investigate some of these composers or others profiled on this website. The scope of "new" (for us anything written in the last 50 years or so) is so far off from what is going on in serious (classical) music that it would be surprising if we did anything that made it to their list. This might spur a whole conversation about "traditional" church music and it's connection to current culture.
Just got some of the music I ordered and I am beyond excited, feels like Christmas and I wanted to share what we got.
Song of Ruth - David Childs
I have been a fan of David's music for quite some time and met him last year at the American Choral Directors Convention in Chicago where he was conducting the Highland Park United Methodist Church choir in the beautiful Rockefeller "chapel". Really nice guy and a fantastic composer.
You can listen to a better recording of this piece on the publisher's website: Santa Barbara Music
Nada te Turbe - Joan Szymko
This piece came onto my radar because it fit three categories that I'm always on the lookout for; female composer, in Spanish and uses Cello. The text is beautiful and while the piece will give us enough of a challenge to keep us busy.
I found a better video for this one but there you can also listen to it on the publisher's website: Santa Barbara Publishing
Festival Sanctus - John Leavitt
This is a piece often done by school choirs for festivals and was recently arranged for treble voices by the composer. The video features the "mixed" choir version.
Sometimes I Hear God's Music - Joseph M. Martin
Not the greatest recording, although not a bad performance. (No we will not be wearing those outfits)
