PROGRAM NOTES

Kantorei’s program this weekend bears the title Walk Together, Children, and features twelve composers with roots in the African diaspora. The connection flavors their music in varying ways. At times, it’s the flow of melodies and their harmonic flavors. It can also be point of view: what feelings or aspirations might seem especially close to the heart. Whatever inspired each composer – men and women alike, representing a century worth of marvelous music – the results make for compelling listening. Sacred or secular, joyous, peaceful, or hopeful, it is music that can reach every one of us.

Undine Smith Moore: two selections – Lord, We Give Thanks to Thee; Striving After God performers alike.Her setting of Praise the Lord both opens and closes in festive mood. However, the central pages bring tenderness, the better to reflect the text and to provide contrast to the work as a whole.

David Hurd: Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

Given the text of Psalm 100, one can expect it to be joyful. However, composer David Hurd (b. 1950) goes one step further, providing a distinctive organ prelude, as well as intriguing juxtaposition between voice parts. Hurd sets the middle lines of the Psalm in calm and thoughtful demeanor, making the return to vigor for the closing even more dramatic.

REGINAL WRIGHT (B. 1976)

Granddaughter of slaves, Undine Smith Moore (1904 –1989) grew up in a Virginia community where music played a central role, especially in congregational singing of hymns. Two contrasting examples of Moore's own hymn settings open Kantorei’s program. Lord, We Give Thanks to Thee is vividly celebratory, with elegantly expansive Alleluias which themselves seem worth the price of admission. Handel thought he knew how to set an Alleluia, but Moore gives him a run for his money. Striving After God opens with serenity, growing to juxtapose women’s voices against those of men. At times, greater motion anticipates the fervent build to brightness at the close.

William Grant Still: All That I Am

KEN BURTON (B. 1970)

ROSEPHANYE POWELL (B. 1962)

Composer of the first symphony by an African American to be given a professional performance (1931: Rochester), William Grant Still (1895 – 1978) proved himself in the big classical genres. However, he did not neglect choral settings. Still’s All That I Am, setting words by Verna Avery (1910 – 1987), is a serene prayer of thanks to the Lord for all that He has provided.

MY HEART BE BRAVE MARQUES L. A. GARRETT (B. 1984)

DRAW US NEAR

Alicia Rigsby, piano

BRING ME ALL YOUR DREAMS

JOEL THOMPSON (B. 1988)

CHRISTOPHER H. HARRIS

HOLD FAST TO DREAMS JOEL THOMPSON

Alicia Rigsby, piano

To make a general contribution to Kantorei, text “ Kantorei ” to 44321 Thank you!

Florence Beatrice Price: Praise the Lord Arkansas born, Boston trained, and Chicago based, Florence Beatrice Price (1887 – 1953) was a prominent figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance. Her orchestral and chamber works tend to get the most notice, but her vocal works merit close attention from audiences and

Betty Jackson King: Psalm 57

Composer Betty Jackson King (1928 – 1994) once attested “Over my head, I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere.” That conviction led her to focus largely upon sacred works, including this setting of Psalm 57. The text begins “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” words that King felt were best expressed with serenity. The later addition of a high descant to the other voices brings greater brilliance, and by the closing verse, splendor takes over. King sensed that this evolution best reflected reflect images of praise and exaltation “reaching to the heavens.”

Nathan

Carter: Psalm 150

Over and over, Psalm 150 evokes scenes of praise: with trumpet, tambourine, cymbals, and more. None of those instruments appear in this setting by Nathan Carter (1936 – 2004). Only a piano provides accompaniment to the voices. After a glorious opening, nimbly racing lines charge forward, taking a break midway for a serene soprano solo. For the closing pages, Carter brings back the exuberance of the opening. Here is a choral work that, driven by its text, is suffused with joy.

Reginal Wright: We are the Music Makers

Here one finds no Biblical verses. Current composer Reginal Wright (NOT ‘Reginald’) has chosen as text the Ode by Irish poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844 – 1881). The vision is not specifically sacred, but still compelling: “We are the music makers… the dreamers of dreams… the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.” Any singer would revel in