Schirmer Choral Series

Composer: Libby Larsen

A challenging work for skilled women's chorus featuring ethereal harmonies and soaring melodies. The soloists' lines are stunning. Duration: 6:00

Composer: Robert Kyr

Composer: Robert Kyr

Composer: Alice Parker

If Ye Love Me was composed as a reflective commentary on the well-known motet by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585). Homophony predominates in the first section but with clusters rather than the traditional harmonies used by Tallis. At approximately the midpoint of the piece, the texture is reduced to a very simple four-voice contrapuntal texture as a brief reference to Tallis' style. The chorus then divides into two groups with one group continuing the counterpoint which is now expanded into a more active and complex style. The second group of voices returns to the homophonic style, but now in widely expanded harmonies. Thus, the motet concludes with homophony and counterpoint sounding simultaneously. Duration: 2:00

Composer: Frank Ferko

Composer: Robert Kyr

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

For SSAATTBB chorus, this original setting of the Christina Rossetti text is rich, sustained and gracious. Challenging but satisfying to learn and sing.

Composer: Rene Clausen

Composer: Steven Sametz

Composer: Steven Sametz

"Motherless Child" is derived, in part, from the African-American spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." The original song dates back to the era of slavery when it was common practice to sell children of slaves away from their parents. In this new adaptation, the theme of separation or alienation (away from home, apart from one's community is viewed as universal and eternal. Everyone at some time feels like a "motherless child." But as one expresses these feelings, one realizes a common bond with humanity. And one is no longer alone. Thus a more hopeful refrain is woven into the lyrics of the spiritual:"Hold on. Hold on, We are together. And we are one."

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

This setting of words by Chinese poet Tu Fu as translated and adapted by Robert Kyr features harmonies and melodies that invoke a mountainous landscape. The lyrics also deal with nature and the human condition. Duration: 5:00

Composer: Robert Kyr

This carol concerns the birth of Jesus Christ, and is told from the perspective of shepherds playing simple instruments- flutes and drums- the onomatopoetic sound of which gives the song its name. "Pat-a-pan" is meant to mimic the sound of the drum, and an accompanying lyric, "tu-re-lu-re-lu," the flute.

Composer: David Conte

An extended SSAA setting of Sara Teasdale's poem, was commissioned by the Peninsula Women's Chorus(California) and aptly expresses the noble sentiment"If I can sing, I am free."

Composer: Libby Larsen

Adapting the text from the James Whitcomb Riley poem A Song of Singing, here is a song for men that celebrates the joy and exuberance of singing. With a fast and jazzy feel, the men sing some words but mainly they sing worldless sounds to capture the energy of the text.

Composer: Kirke Mechem

"In the summer of 2011, while I was visiting my friends Don and Sally Roberts in Santa Fe, Sally asked me if I would be interested in writing a new choral work for Don in celebration of his upcoming 75th birthday. The idea appealed to me very much, so I readily agreed to write the piece. Since Don has enjoyed a lifelong interest in the American Southwest Pueblo people and their customs, Sally provided me with several Tewa texts, in English translation, to consider for musical setting. I was particularly drawn to the imagery of Song of the Sky Loom, so that poem became the basis for the new work.

The music begins with two baritone soloists singing an introductory 'call-and-response' to which the entire chorus eventually responds. The opening line of text is first presented in fragmented form, as if voices from all areas of nature gradually rise up and then merge into a unified chordal texture. As the text turns to the imagery of weaving, the musical texture, accordingly, bec

Composer: Frank Ferko

"I loved this poem the moment I first read it, imagining a God who dwelt in music, creating the world and us in a universe of swirling sound. Gracia Grindal was referring to Norwegian composer and personal friend Nils Henrik Asheim as she wrote, but the larger view is easily drawn. The whole work is a meditation on creative power, the wonders inside everything 'ordinary.' Our 'stone deaf ears' should be awakened as we sing and listen." -Alice Parker

Composer: Alice Parker

The Hildegard Motets comprise a cycle of nine unaccompanied choral motets using texts by the 12th century abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179). The texts were extracted from Hildegard's opus of more than seventy sacred poems titled Symphinia armonie celestium revelationum. Although these poems have been translated into English (more than once) and some of the translations are quite brilliant, I chose to set the original Latin texts as I felt they remained closer to Hildegard's own thoughts. The nine poems used in this cycle were selected according to their appropriateness to seasons in the Christian liturgical caldendar (thus, most of them can be sung in specific liturgical settings) and to their appropriateness to the structured plan of this cycle as well as for their sheer poetic beauty. Hildegard's poetic vocabulary was unusual and unique; she frequently used language that is not found in standard Latin liturgical texts. As with the musi

Arranger: Frank Ferko | Composer: Hildegard von Bingen

Gwyneth Walker has created a rousing a cappella arrangement of the

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

Gwyneth Walker has created a rousing a cappella arrangement of the

Composer: Gwyneth Walker

Composer: Robert Kyr

Like Robert Kyr's "Ode to Music" (#8368, TBB), "The Singer's Ode" is another homage set to music with words and music by the composer. This one features sweeping melodies and rich harmonies culminating in an easy-to-perform aleatoric passage at the close.

Composer: Robert Kyr

A chromatic and engaging choral fanfare for Palm Sunday, paired with an introspective setting of the 6th-century text Crux fidelis, translated into both English and Spanish. Momentum is achieved by the alternation of long, lyrical phrases with short ones punctuated by figures in the original Latin.

Includes:
I. Hosanna Fanfare
II. Faithful Cross (O Cruz Fiel)

Composer: Leo Nestor

Composer: Robert Kyr