Erik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella Choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try. Creating a Choral adaptation of a piano piece ha...  moreErik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella Choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try. Creating a Choral adaptation of a piano piece has its challenges. I tried to keep faithful to Satie's original musical inspiration and created lyrics to go with my arrangement that evoke an early summer morning, one of my favourite times of the year. Several months later, I applied to be a participant at one of the Vancouver Chamber Choir's Interplay workshops funded by the SOCAN Foundation and to my delight I was accepted. "As dawn breaks" was one of the pieces that this amazing choir sight read for me on the spot. VCC director Jon Washburn and choir members then provided me with valuable feedback, for which I am very grateful. NB: One day I woke up to the realization that I had independently written four Choral works, each of which had evoked a different season, and so it seemed natural to group ...    less

Be Near Me by Greg Bartholomew A setting for unaccompanied Mixed Choir (SATB) of Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Tennyson Sung by Sarah Brailey & Matthew Curtis of Choral Tracks. The text for Be Near Me is Canto 50 from the poem...  moreBe Near Me by Greg Bartholomew A setting for unaccompanied Mixed Choir (SATB) of Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Tennyson Sung by Sarah Brailey & Matthew Curtis of Choral Tracks. The text for Be Near Me is Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by the British Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson (1809 -1892). Published in 1850, the poem is an extended requiem for the poet's beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1833, age 22. It is considered one of the greatest poems of the 19th Century and was reported to be a great favorite of Queen Victoria. Sheet music available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/Be-Near-Me/11339264.item For more information visit http://www.gregbartholomew.com/benearmeindex.html #Choralmusic #choir #tennyson  less

Score video of FIRE AND ICE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963). Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine and again in 1923 in his Pulitzer ...  moreScore video of FIRE AND ICE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963). Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine and again in 1923 in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book New Hampshire, "Fire and Ice" is one of Robert Frost's most popular poems. Some have asserted that the poem is a compression of Dante's Inferno. In an anecdote he recounted in 1960, prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley claimed to have inspired Fire and Ice in an encounter with Frost a year before the poem was published. Frost asked Shapley how the world will end, and Shapley responded that either the sun will explode and incinerate the Earth, or the Earth will somehow escape this fate only to end up slowly freezing in deep space. Sheet music for FIRE AND ICE is available from J.W. Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/11129789.item For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com/fireindex.html #Choralmusic #choir #RobertFrost  less

STOKE FLEMING for unaccompanied mixed choir (SATB) by Greg Bartholomew Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Sheet Music is available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/10503196.item Stoke Fleming is a small hamlet on the English...  moreSTOKE FLEMING for unaccompanied mixed choir (SATB) by Greg Bartholomew Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Sheet Music is available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/10503196.item Stoke Fleming is a small hamlet on the English Channel. The text for this work is a secular meditation on the rocks and the waves written by the composer during a weekend stay there in 1978. The music was completed in January 2000 and received a reading by the Gregg Smith Singers at the Adirondack Festival of American Music in July 2000. For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com #ComposersOfChoralMusic #ChoralMusic #AmericanMusic  less

"Aurum, aurum!" is dedicated to Asira Shukuru. It is a musical search for the meaning of gold, a Choral exploration of our human relationship to this precious metal. In Latin and English. As always, comments are most welcomed. Sincere thanks to Matt...  more"Aurum, aurum!" is dedicated to Asira Shukuru. It is a musical search for the meaning of gold, a Choral exploration of our human relationship to this precious metal. In Latin and English. As always, comments are most welcomed. Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (ChoralTracks.com) for recording "Aurum, aurum!" Email me at rain@magma.ca, if you'd like more info, or to obtain a copy of the score. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. I would also like to thank my friends in our "Ad hoc Chorale" for testing out this piece in one of our informal workshops and offering valuable comments. And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and my friend Geneviève Lajoie for their invaluable support throughout my composing journey.  less

PRAIRIE SPRING by Greg Bartholomew A setting for SAB choir of the poem by Willa Cather. With optional piano accompaniment. Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an American writer best known for her novels of fron...  morePRAIRIE SPRING by Greg Bartholomew A setting for SAB choir of the poem by Willa Cather. With optional piano accompaniment. Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an American writer best known for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains. Prairie Spring was first published in 1913 as the prologue to the novel O Pioneers! Sheet music is available from J. W. Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/11208222.item PRAIRIE SPRING Evening and the flat land, Rich and sombre and always silent; The miles of fresh-plowed soil, Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness; The growing wheat, the growing weeds, The toiling horses, the tired men; The long empty roads, Sullen fires of sunset, fading, The eternal, unresponsive sky. Against all this, Youth, Flaming like the wild roses, Singing like the larks over the plowed fields, Flashing like a star out of the twilight; Youth with its insupportable sweetness, Its fierce necessity, Its shar...    less

"The Tyger" is dedicated to my daughter, Salima Rain, who asked me if I might try setting this remarkable William Blake poem to music, a daunting thought, to say the least. But I took on the challenge and here is the result. As always, comments are ...  more"The Tyger" is dedicated to my daughter, Salima Rain, who asked me if I might try setting this remarkable William Blake poem to music, a daunting thought, to say the least. But I took on the challenge and here is the result. As always, comments are most welcomed. Email me at rain@magma.ca, if you'd like more info. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and my friend Geneviève Lajoie for their invaluable support throughout my composing journey.  less

Psalm 23 is dedicated to my aunt Patricia Shaw of Vancouver, as this is her favourite Psalm. Two points of note: First, the composition grew out of the feeling that all 4 voices should start on the same note, grow outwards and then come back to that...  morePsalm 23 is dedicated to my aunt Patricia Shaw of Vancouver, as this is her favourite Psalm. Two points of note: First, the composition grew out of the feeling that all 4 voices should start on the same note, grow outwards and then come back to that same note at the end. The rest just seemed to evolve on its own, seemingly guided by some external force. Second, unusually, I have asked choirs (where possible) to sing this without any breaks, via staggered breathing, as I wanted to highlight the deep conviction underlying the words of the Psalm, as one single thread of deep belief that moves from beginning to end. Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (ChoralTracks.com) for recording "Psalm 23." As always, comments are welcomed. Email me at rain@magma.ca, if you'd like more info. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. I would also like to thank my friends in our "Ad ...    less

"Stella" is dedicated to my friend Kristina, who introduced me to this remarkable French poem by Victor Hugo written while in exile on the Isle of Jersey. It is a complex layered poem exploring a multitude of interactions with the morning star - in na...  more"Stella" is dedicated to my friend Kristina, who introduced me to this remarkable French poem by Victor Hugo written while in exile on the Isle of Jersey. It is a complex layered poem exploring a multitude of interactions with the morning star - in naturalistic, religious, spiritual and seemingly political terms. Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (ChoralTracks.com) for recording "Stella." To purchase the sheet music for this song, please contact: info@leadingnote.com. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. I would also like to thank my friends in our "Ad hoc Chorale" for testing out this piece in one of our informal workshops and offering valuable comments. And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and my friend Geneviève Lajoie for their invaluable support throughout my composing journey.  less

An a cappella Choral piece on Ecclesiates 3:11, recorded by Matthew Curtis, Choral Tracks, LLC. Copyright 2014 by Pavane Publishing, all rights reserved,