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Event
SIMPLE GIFTS: Shaker tunes and Anglo-Americana
TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON OCTOBER 22 BEGINNING AT 6:30 PM.
SIMPLE GIFTS is the first concert of the Tudor Choir's 2011-2012 season. Single tickets may be purchased here. If you would like to purchase a season subscription (including tickets to the Tallis Scholars' concert on March 23, 2012), please go to the Tudor Choir 2011-2012 Subscription Series event on this site: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/184411.
The Tudor Choir's 2011-2012 series is co-presented by the Tudor Choir and Blessed Sacrament Church.
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Conceived as a sequel to the Tudor Choir's popular GENTLE WORDS album of Shaker tunes, the SIMPLE GIFTS program of Shaker songs, folk tunes, and settings of serene transcendentalist and devotional texts offers more of the peaceful and meditative side of early American aesthetics, including a love of nature, individuality and community combined with a deep spirituality.
The SIMPLE GIFTS program is underpinned by four settings of the popular Shaker tune "'Tis the gift to be simple": the first drawn from a Shaker manuscript; the second in an arrangement by American musical icon Aaron Copland (1900-1990), who made the tune famous by including it in his ballet score Appalachian Spring; the third in a vocal jazz-inspired setting by British composer Bob Chilcott (born 1955); and the fourth in a new arrangement for the Tudor Choir by American composer Kevin Siegfried (born 1969).
Musical settings by Kevin Siegfried make up a large part of the SIMPLE GIFTS program. In addition to several new settings of Shaker tunes, the Tudor Choir includes Siegfried's choral suite, At the water's edge, with texts by the 19th-century American poet Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909). The settings, mostly for unaccompanied voices, are titled "Top of the hill," "Boat song" (for upper voices and harp), "In restless waves," and "The eagle trees."
Two additional American female poets are represented on the program: Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) and Jane Leeson (1807-1882). One thing have I desired, a setting of Carmichael's poem for accompanied choir by Tudor Choir director Doug Fullington (born 1968), will be sung alongside John Rutter's setting of Leeson's Loving shepherd of thy sheep for unaccompanied voices.
Early American texts and music are presented in works by New England's William Billings (1746-1800) and Jeremiah Ingalls (1764-1828). Billings' Is any afflicted and When Jesus wept (Emmaus) are miniatures that perfectly represent the New England master's "primitive" style, and Ingalls's setting of Jesus Christ the apple tree, with a text drawn from a collection compiled by Joshua Smith and published in New Hampshire in 1784, has a drinking song quality that cannot come as a surprise from a composer who opened a tavern in order to have a venue in which to host public singing school classes. A second setting of Jesus Christ the apple tree, by British composer and folksong historian Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987), offers a fresh interpretation of the classic text.
Other British contributions come from Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), with his settings of George Herbert's (1593-1633) The call and John Bunyan's (1628-1688) He that is down need fear no fall.
The SIMPLE GIFTS program was recorded in 2006 as the Tudor Choir's sixth CD, serving as a sequel to the choir's popular GENTLE WORDS CD of Shaker tunes, mostly arranged by Kevin Siegfried. Fanfare magazine critic Craig Zeichner wrote about GENTLE WORDS and the Tudor Choir: "This recording triumphs on every level. If you care about American music or the art of sublime choral singing, I implore you to buy this recording. The choir impresses with its ability to get to the very essence of each song, whether the mood is ecstatic or contemplative. This is a choir that is thinking about the words being sung, and their performances are wonderfully honest and
unaffected. I want to hear much more from them in the future. Shapenote music, Shaker songs, Sheppard, Tallis, and Victoria. This is a choir to watch."
Program
SHAKER: 'Tis the gift to be simple
SHAKER: All at home
SIEGFRIED: Star of purity
SIEGFRIED: The humble heart
SIEGFRIED: Simple gifts
INGALLS: Jesus Christ the apple tree
BILLINGS: Is any afflicted?
BILLINGS: Emmaus
POSTON: Jesus Christ the apple tree
THOMSON: My shepherd will supply my need
COPLAND: Simple gifts
SIEGFRIED: At the water's edge
1. Top of the hill
2. Boat song
3. In restless waves
4. The eagle trees
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: He that is down need fear no fall
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: O taste and see
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Call
RUTTER: Loving shepherd of thy sheep
FULLINGTON: One thing have I desired
CHILCOTT: Simple gifts
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LocationBlessed Sacrament Church (View)
5041 - 9th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98105
United States
Categories
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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