CHORAL MUSIC BY GRAHAM LACK CQ2715 Estraines, song cycle for SSATBB choir a cappella, in 4 octavos: choral version of a work commissioned by the King's Singers, for premiere in March, 2009. Write to us to enquire about restrictions on performance before that date. The songs evoke the Renaissance custom of New Year gifts (Old French, estraines), and the poems selected elaborate on four different kinds of gifts, or giving and receiving scenarios. $1.75 each, or $7.00 for the set of 4. Degree of difficulty, 3+. CQ2715-1 Conceit: poem by Mervyn Peake (1911-1968). 7 pp. 2:50 duration | sample pages CQ2715-2 Day: poem by William Blake (1757-1827). 8 pp. 4:30 duration | sample pages CQ2715-3 Ad Infinitum: poem by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). 7 pp. 4:00 duration | sample pages CQ2715-4 On Love: poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674). 3 pp. 1:20 duration | sample pages CQ2520 Sanctus, 12 voice mixed choir, a cappella, 18pp. $2.65 View .pdf file of sample pages Dedicated to the Choir of Queens College, Cambridge, who gave its premiere performance, in Cologne (1990). This 12-voice setting (SSS:AAA:TTT:BBB) requires a proficient choir capable of sustaining long held chords. Range from low C in the bass to high B flat in the tenor and soprano, but the highest notes may be sung by solo voices. For liturgical or concert use. Duration approx. 6 mins. Listen to an .mp3 recording of excerpts (about 2'40" / 2,567 KB download). Review of Sanctus in Oberbayerisches Volksblatt (July, 1990): A remarkable 12-voice composition in which classical forms combine with multi-colored surfaces and whispered litanies. . . . The result is one of rich poetical truth, occasionally submerging itself in a remote and mellow major tonality. Strict and austere, it is far-removed from sugary post-modernism. Review by Reinhard Schulz in NMZ: Komplex polyphon gedachtes, flächiges Kirchenmusikstück. Sehr wirkungsvolles, in sich ruhendes Chorwerk. ( . . . a highly effective piece of church music . . . essentially tranquil . . .) CQ2319 Four Lullabies, SATB, 13pp. $2.50 View Sample 1. Jesu, swete sone dere (14th cent. anonymous lyrics) Hear mp3 excerpt 2. At the manger Mary sings (lyrics by W.H.Auden) Hear mp3 excerpt 3. The World's Desire (lyrics by G.K.Chesterton) Hear mp3 excerpt 4. I sing of a maiden (15th cent. anonymous lyrics) Hear mp3 excerpt Approx. 9 minutes duration for all four songs. These four short choral settings are in strict four-part style without any divisi passages. Direct in expression, they are designed to be sung a cappella by chamber choir and may even be performed by an SATB vocal quartet. They can also be performed with organ doubling the vocal parts. The Four Lullabies should make effective additions to a church service during the Christmas season but are intended as concert repertoire too. They may be given either singly or rendered as a cycle in the order published here. The musical language remains within an extended tonality, but admits some modal elements and contains a few unexpected harmonic shifts. Competent singers will cope easily with this challenge, and bring out accordingly the slight acerbity or sweetness of the harmonies whilst remaining attentive to the overall level of dissonance. [Revised from the original German edition]. Review of Four Lullabies in Musical Opinion (November, 1991): Here is a composer with a sure understanding of timbres and the experience to know how to say what he wants to say in musical terms. A composer who delights in sound. CQ2521 Two Madrigals for High Summer, SSATB a cappella, 13 pp. $2.50 View .pdf file of sample pages A setting of lyrics by Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), the madrigalian style of these two new compositions draws strongly on English vocal music of the late Renaissance, a repertoire in which word painting and sensitive atmospheres play such an important role, and where SSATB forces are practically the norm. The compositional style is nevertheless more typical of the lyrical and romantic means of expression found in English music at the beginning of the twentieth century, although the degree of dissonance is pushed one notch further. The works were commissioned by the Sängerkreis München. Approx. duration: August, 2'30"; A Wind of Night, 5'10". Difficulty level, 4. Listen to an .mp3 recording of A Wind of Night by the Monteverdi Chor of Munich, directed by Konrad von Abel (live concert November, 2004, Klosterkirche St. Anna im Lehel, Munich). If you would like to invite Graham Lack as a guest lecturer, choral conductor or festival clinician, please download this PDF flyer which you are welcome to copy in quantity. RETURN TO STUDIO ENTRANCE (MAIN PAGE) LEAVE STUDIO AND GO TO STORE SEND E-MAIL WHAT'S NEW?
CQ2715-1 Conceit: poem by Mervyn Peake (1911-1968). 7 pp. 2:50 duration | sample pages CQ2715-2 Day: poem by William Blake (1757-1827). 8 pp. 4:30 duration | sample pages CQ2715-3 Ad Infinitum: poem by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). 7 pp. 4:00 duration | sample pages CQ2715-4 On Love: poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674). 3 pp. 1:20 duration | sample pages
Review of Sanctus in Oberbayerisches Volksblatt (July, 1990): A remarkable 12-voice composition in which classical forms combine with multi-colored surfaces and whispered litanies. . . . The result is one of rich poetical truth, occasionally submerging itself in a remote and mellow major tonality. Strict and austere, it is far-removed from sugary post-modernism. Review by Reinhard Schulz in NMZ: Komplex polyphon gedachtes, flächiges Kirchenmusikstück. Sehr wirkungsvolles, in sich ruhendes Chorwerk. ( . . . a highly effective piece of church music . . . essentially tranquil . . .)
Review by Reinhard Schulz in NMZ: Komplex polyphon gedachtes, flächiges Kirchenmusikstück. Sehr wirkungsvolles, in sich ruhendes Chorwerk. ( . . . a highly effective piece of church music . . . essentially tranquil . . .)
Review of Four Lullabies in Musical Opinion (November, 1991): Here is a composer with a sure understanding of timbres and the experience to know how to say what he wants to say in musical terms. A composer who delights in sound.
