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Program notes - "My Full Heart Forth..." |
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A Note from the Artistic Director Felix Mendelssohn’s Vespergesang, Op. 121, was the real genesis for this concert. It is, by a cappella choral standards, a major work of 5 movements, taking about 12-15 minutes to perform; and it has the unusual scoring of men’s chorus with solo cello. Playing through the piece, and even performing parts of it at my church with a male quartet and cello, whetted my appetite to do the entire work with St. Martin’s at some point. The unusual forces for which it calls, however, do not lend themselves well to a "normal" St. Martin’s concert (if there is any such thing!), so I determined to program a concert around this work. In searching out other works for men’s chorus and cello, I discovered very little. So I determined I would have to create them myself! My first step in this process was to ask Terry Schlenker to write a piece for men’s chorus and cello, which he did – and quite superbly! In fact, it may very well supplant the Mendelssohn as the real focus of this concert! Secondly, I happed upon a set of partsongs by Elgar for men’s chorus that I thought very naturally lent themselves to the addition of a cello part by substituting one vocal part or another with the cello (I will make more detailed verbal comments about this during the concert). So there is not a single note in the set that is not by Elgar; I have merely taken the liberty of "reassigning" some of them to the cello! Thirdly, I took an old favorite of mine from my High School days – "Colorado Trail," originally arranged by Norman Luboff for men’s chorus and piano – and rearranged it for men’s chorus and cello. My apologies to both Mr. Elgar and Mr. Luboff for my tampering with their works! Lastly, I adorned these centerpiece works for men’s chorus and cello with works for the two elements separately. I cannot conclude without making reference to the little work of my own that makes its world premiere this evening – Das Lied der Alpenjäger. I actually wrote this piece the summer between High School and College (1983), shortly after my first trip to Europe, which included a brief jaunt through the Swiss Alps. It is a simple, inauspicious work; yet, unlike many of my juvenile attempts at composition, I have kept this one in my drawer these last 20-some years, thinking it had enough in it to warrant a hearing at some point. I thank you all for your forbearance as I cast my mind wistfully back to those heady youthful days when I was convinced I was to become a great composer! Timothy J. Krueger
© 2006 Timothy J. Krueger |