FROM "AN ALASKA BESTIARY"
Cost: $5.00
The poetry for this cycle of Alaskan songs comes from the pen of a former
Alaska Poet Laureate, Sheila Nickerson from Juneau, and represents selections
from Feast of the Animals: An Alaskan Bestiary, Vols. I and II. Music for the
song cycle was written 1990 and is scored for solo mezzo soprano (or baritone)
accompanied by piano. It utilizes the musical technique of wordpainting, in that
each song describes musically a particular animal's appearance and/or behavior.
Listen for the graceful, sweeping flight of the Great Blue Heron, the majestic
march of the Caribou, the frantic Ground Squirrel gathering winter food and then
hibernating in a deep, silent sleep. The song cycle is classically based, and
the songs are very short. PRICE: $5.00. Performance time: Approx. 12
minutes. Eighteen pages inc/cover
Download PDF file that includes one of the songs: "Heron" (File size 1.3
MEG)
Download MP3 audio file of: (NOTE: All files have voice played by piano
in addition to accompaniment)
-
Great Blue Heron (1
MEG)
-
Caribou (.7
MEG)
-
Alaska Little Brown Bat (.4 MEG)
-
Ground Squirrel (.8
MEG)
-
Dragonfly (1
MEG)
-
Mallard (1.3
MEG)
-
Puffin (1.5 MEG)
-
Raven (1.3 MEG)
Cost $5.00
This piece was written in 1991 as part of a composite project involving
several Alaskan composers and poets, and was premiered by the Fairbanks Choral
Society. The style of the work (meaning the complete project) was to use the
traditional Roman Catholic mass, with each movement assigned to a different
Alaskan composer and with each movement containing a poem by an Alaskan poet!
Words of the traditional Latin chant (Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis, dona eis pacem) are combined with "Absence Wild", a
poem describing an Alaskan whiteout, written by Jerah Chadwick, who served on
the faculty of University of Alaska in Unalaska and directed UA's rural program
for the Aleutian Islands. The Agnus Dei is one of the movements which seems to
lend itself well to being performed separately, without the other movements. Cost $5.00
The
required musical forces are SATB choir, two soprano soloists, organ and tympani.
Performance time: Approx. 10 minutes. 13 pages.
Download free PDF file that includes the first two pages of the score ( .3 MEG)
Download free WMA file of entire score for accompaniment (Yahoo Musicbox) (Voices are
represented by piano)