Tracks from our recent organ and choral releases

2024 AAM and AGO Playlist

LOUPRETTE. BACH: Clavier-Übung III. The Pedal Settings

BWV 552/1 Praeludium pro Organo pleno

The Lord's My Shepherd - Solos for Treble

Geoffrey Burgon - Nunc Dimittis

Eric Whitacre: The Sacred Veil

In a dark and distant year

When composing Mass of the Eternal Flame, my first Mass, I kept remembering my parish choir in Latvia, which I directed for ten years. Whatever songs of praise and worship, repentance or thanksgiving we sang, the vivid experience and understanding of the text by each singer was always prominent. In this way, my Mass was born. It is inspiring for me to know that in Houston, Texas there is also a choir with faith in God in their hearts and a true passion for expressing the Good News through music, as well as conductor Robert Simpson and organist, Daryl Robinson, whose musicianship has inspired many over the years. My sincere gratitude to them for encouraging me to write my first Mass!

Sincerely,
Eriks Esenvalds
Riga, Latvia

Mass of the Eternal Flame: New Music by Ēriks Ešenvalds & Rachel Laurin

Rachel Laurin: Diptych, Op. 107

Ēriks Ešenvalds: O Salutaris Hostia

American composer Jeremy Beck “knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way. … [In] Beck’s forceful and expressive sound world … the writing is concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic.”  — Gramophone

The Acis release of Jeremy Beck’s REQUIEM for mixed chorus and string orchestra is the artistic culmination of a multi-year project, one that was interrupted but also fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. For it was the isolation and space created by the pandemic that allowed Beck to drive his earlier work on the REQUIEM to its conclusion in 2019.

A Requiem (or a Requiem Mass) is also known as a Mass for the Dead. It is a Mass of the Catholic Church that may be used during a funeral for an individual or a group of people. The title comes from the opening words of the Latin text, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (“Grant them eternal rest, O Lord”). Outside of a liturgical context, the words and form of the Requiem have inspired composers to create concert works in this genre, composers as diverse as Mozart, Verdi, Ligeti, and Christopher Rouse. Certain of these works, like the Rouse and Britten’s War Requiem (which inspired Rouse), juxtapose the traditional Latin text with other writings. But whether with additional texts or not, these works all come from a place of mourning, in remembrance of losses due to war, other human cruelty, or natural occurrence.

Beck explains his motivation for his REQUIEM:

“One sometimes reaches a point as a composer when the music one imagines suggests a larger form, something of greater artistic consequence. Taking my cue more from earlier composers, as my piece unfolded, I was also conscious of the sacred choral music of Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir, a twentieth-century choral masterpiece. These two composers somehow found modern musical languages that were purposefully subdued, yet ever powerful and moving in their seeming restraint. In light of all of this history, I found the path to my own Requiem. It is without dedication, but is of its time.”

Jeremy Beck: Requiem

03 Jeremy Beck: Requiem: Tuba mirum

Between Words

White Flag

Five Pieces for Cello and Piano, II. Chonguri

The Well-“Tampered” Clavier: Bach Reimagined for the Modern Piano

Originally conceived to showcase a revolutionary tuning system that allowed every key to sound equally in tune, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier has, for three centuries, inspired composers, performers, and audiences worldwide. Now, two Washington, D.C.–based pianists—composer-performer Sam Post and his friend and colleague Ralitza Patcheva—have joined forces to reimagine Bach’s iconic work. Their new recording, The Well-“Tampered” Clavier, embraces the expressive possibilities of the modern piano and infuses the music with rhythmic vitality drawn from jazz, ragtime, folk, world music, and twentieth-century classical styles.

05 The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1_ Prelude no 3 in C sharp major, BWV 848 (arr S Post), Ralitza Patcheva

I witnessed the Aids epidemic first hand. Lost a LOT of friends. I am also an avid gamer. I played the very first ever video games at the time they came out. I played every single MMORPG, Alpha tested and Beta Tested MANY of them. The World of Warcraft was one such game. I made friends during the Alpha test, most of them LGBTQIA, and added even more in Beta.  The Day WoW launched, we had more than 500 members in our guild. Eventually, we had over 10,000. We were "The Spreading Taint". Our guild has been featured many times in various TV Shows. The episode in South Park, is my all time favorite. That is where I met many LIFE long friends. One of them, Mitchell Way, I got really close with. One night while we were raiding together, he told me he had to go, he had a Band Rehearsal. I was like, NO WAY! he said yep. I told him I wrote music for Wind Bands and Wind Ensembles. He didn't believe me. He believes me now. All of us in those guilds were seeking others like us. We were people  that were shunned, hated but most of all, hurting. We found solace inside that guild. We found peace, laughter, comrades and most of all, we found ourselves. We went into those guilds as wounded souls. We came out STRONG. We were all OUTCASTS. I wrote this work for Mitch, whom I love dearly. I wrote OUTCASTS for all the outcasts on Earth. FOR THE HORDE!

OUTCASTS

Marie Laveau, often referred to as the "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans," was a legendary figure in 19th-century Louisiana. Renowned for her deep knowledge of Voodoo practices, spiritual healing, and herbal medicine, she gained a reputation for her influence in both the spiritual and social spheres. Laveau's charisma and skill in blending traditional African spiritual beliefs with
Catholicism made her a powerful and enduring symbol of New Orleans' rich cultural heritage. Many prominent figures sought her out for fortune telling as well as advice. The knowledge gleaned from those same prominent figures would ultimately give her great power, influence and ability to “tell the future”, or at least it seemed so. Between the fortune telling and her voodoo background, very few, if any, challenged her.
     I Have a History with New Orleans - I played piano bar in New Orleans while attending Louisiana State University. I enjoyed exploring the city, watching artisans and vendors, and taking historical tours. Marie Laveau’s footsteps and ghost tours inspired me to write music for her. 
The Moon was in her Eyes - The form of the work is basically A, B, C, D then ending with a variation of B.
A - is composed to make you physically feel New Orleans subtitled: “Laid back and doused with oppressive humidity.”
B - subtitled “The Big Easy” which is basically a rendition of how I hear New Orleans.
C - is “Love Potion #9” It’s somewhat of a love theme that later, goes terribly wrong.
D - is “That voodoo, that you do, so well” (While I could be quoting Frank Sinatra, I’m instead, quoting the character Heady Lamar, played by Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles.) It pretty much sounds like voodoo. It concludes with a strong recap of “The Big Easy”, symbolizing Marie Laveau; The Voodoo Priestess of New Orleans, the Influencer, the Myth, and the Legend.

The Moon in her Eyes

When I was diagnosed with cancer back in the '90s, I found myself daydreaming of a world less defined. A place where the rules bent gently, like reeds in the tide. I wanted to break my bonds- not just of illness, but of gravity, of breath, of the body itself. I imagined a realm where gravity wasn't a force of confinement, but a kind of kindness. It didn't pull- it released. It sang in soft harmonics, lifting even the heaviest hearts into the sky. In that world, oxygen was optional. We could walk the ocean floor without tanks or fear, our footsteps stirring phosphorescent trails in the sand. The sea was warm and forgiving, and above us, the clouds swelled like gentle waves. Whales breached not from water, but from mist- leviathans of the sky, their songs echoing through the atmosphere like lullabies for the soul.
     Illness has no place here. It couldn't find footing in a world so fluid, so free. The body was light, the spirit lighter. And gravity? It was no longer a law. It was a choice. It was a melody. A whisper that said, "You may stay, or you may soar!
I imagined that melody, and I put it on paper for Beth; "GRAVITY"

Gravity

 The American Band College of Central Washington University, or “ABC” “... is a master's degree program that could change your career.”  That is some of what the brochure says. What it doesn't say, is how many friends you will make, or how many of those friends will last a lifetime. The atmosphere is professional but at the same time, it’s like one giant family, learning, laughing, eating and yes, there is a miniscule amount of partying too!  

      When they commissioned me to compose a work, I was truly was excited to do it. All I could think of was yes! I’m going back there! It felt like going home. That is the only thing I thought about when I was composing it. The camaraderie, the learning, the beautiful mountain laced scenery, everything that I love about it. When it came to a title, I kept turning over the words American Band College, and just the ABC. Then ABC turned into Do-Re-Mi, then it hit me. I could use Solfege, the method of being able to name pitches of notes. In the Key of C, ABC is La-Ti-Do which sounds like Lah-Tee-Doh. So, there you have it! What inspired the music as well as the title of the work: LaTiDo! 

Latido

Commissioned by the Mile High Freedom Bands
Commemorating Forty Years of Standing with Pride, Derek Hebert, Artistic Director

Mile High

Independent Classical from Acis

emerging talent  |  award-winning artists  |  mindful design

In a dark and distant year

Acis

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