Composed in 1999 by Jeffrey Bernstein for the inauguration of Theodore Mitchell, president of Occidental College. Text by Walt Whitman. Recorded May 2000 by the Occidental Glee Club, Justin Stowens, horn. Copyright © 1999 Corduroy Fifths Music Publishing.

O soul, repressless, I with thee and thou with me,
Thy circumnavigation of the world begin,
Of man, the voyage of his mind's return,
To reason's early paradise,
Back, back to wisdom's birth, to innocent intuitions,
Again with fair creation.
O we can wait no longer,

Joyous we launch out on trackless seas,
Fearless of unknown shores on waves of ecstasy to sail
Amidst the wafting winds,
Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration.

Greater than stars or suns,
Bounding O soul thou journeyest forth;
O secret of the earth and sky!
Of you O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers!
Of you O woods and fields! of you strong mountains of my land!
Of you O prairies! of you gray rocks!
O morning red! O clouds! O rain!
O day and night!

Sail forth--steer for the deep waters only,
O my brave soul!
O farther farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!

Excerpted from "Passage to India"

Circumnavigation Of The World

This was commisioned for school children and was intended to inspire young people just at the start of their life's journey. It was based on the school's core values, but it has a universal message which I rather like - we all matter, and we're all important because we all have a part to play and a contribution to make to the world.

Play Your Part

A song of gratitude and longing for days gone by, for my grandmother and all the aunts and uncles and cousins and friends who filled us with love and who made our childhood days in Brecon Road so happy and secure.

BRECON ROAD
There’s a house, built of stone
In a Swansea Valley town
With a path leading up to the door.
It stands by the hill and the bridge that takes you down
Where the mountain river runs the valley floor.
And her face at the window is sunlit with smiles
Framed by roses on the curtains that she sewed.
I smile back through the years
And wish that I could go
Once again to the place that I loved
Seventy-four Brecon Road.

I would step through the gate,
Walk up the cobbled way,
See that old wooden door standing wide,
And a welcome as warm as a bright midsummer’s day
Then hand in hand we’d turn and go inside.
I’d sit down at the table as I’ve always done
Since I was a little girl so long ago,
In my grandmother’s home
Where kindness overflowed
And love knew no bounds.
Oh, how I miss Brecon Rd

In that house built of stone
Burns a candle with no shadow,
A love that lights the dark eternity.
She worked so hard to give us all the things she never had, 
Oh, I am grateful she believed in me.
Now I walk in her footsteps I know she’d be proud
I grew up to live the stories that she told.
In my life, so much wealth, so much happiness is owed
To that place of my dreams
Dearly loved seventy-four,
Sweet memories
Wish I could go there once more,
Longing to be
Back home in seventy-four
Brecon Road.

Brecon Road - 13:02:2023, 19.02

The Text:  Walt Whitman wrote the text as an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln.
The Composer:  Ethan McGrath composed this setting as a tribute to both President Lincoln and Walt Whitman.  His desire is to write music which is meaningful, inspirational, and uplifting.  He has more than accomplished these with "Lilacs".

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd - Ethan McGrath

Trio for Three Violins by Caroline Mallonée
performed by Caroline Mallonée, Jim Altieri and Matt McBane at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Trio For Three Violins

Zwei Hülshoff Lieder is a set of two songs set to poems by the German poet Annette von Droste Hülshoff.  They were premiered under the auspices of LIEDER ALIVE! in San Francisco on January 25, 2015.

Jessica Wan, soprano
Natalie Parker, clarinet
Paul Yarbrough, viola
Laura Dahl, piano

The score and parts are available from Universal Edition
https://www.universaledition.com/michael-kaulkin-8367/works/zwei-hulshoff-lieder-34492

Buy Sheet Music

O Nacht - Michael Kaulkin - Zwei Hülshoff Lieder

"If Ever There Is" is a setting of "John's Song," by American poet Robert Creeley (1926-2005). The poem has a dedication to the poet John Taggart; the style of wordplay and repetition here can also be found in Taggart's poetry. I hear it as a prayer for peace. In 1967 Creeley signed a "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest," an ad in which over 500 vowed to protest the Vietnam War by refusing to pay a 10% war tax. "If Ever There Is," is entirely derived from the opening melody, made up of seconds and thirds; these intervals are almost exclusively used as the work unfolds. In the first half of the piece, the choir works together, sounding an insistent plea. In the second half, the parts move more independently. We move from minor to major as the voices dream of a time when we can experience life without war. "If Ever There Is," was a 2013 Essentially Choral selection & workshopped by VocalEssence, Philip Brunelle & Francisco Núñez.

If Ever There Is

Bruce Lazarus
The Isle is Full of Noises  for SATB chorus and piano
text adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

The isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs 
that give delight and hurt not. 
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears 
and sometimes voices will make me sleep -
And then in dreaming the clouds would open 
and show riches ready to drop upon me
that when I waked I cried to dream again.

I composed The Isle is Full of Noises between March and May 2007 in honor of Cantabile Chamber Chorale’s 20th anniversary, instinctually feeling that Shakespeare’s eloquent meditation on dreams, music, and riches - placed in the mouth of brooding isle-native Caliban - would be appropriate for the occasion. 

The Isle is Full of Noises is a seven-minute cantata divided into several contrasting sections. After an  introductory piano solo, agitato, the chorus - portraying Caliban - calmly describes the isle as “full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not” and the comforting “voices” which “make me sleep.”  Later on,  “in dreaming,” Caliban displays quiet wonderment when “the clouds would open,” delirious happiness when “riches” beyond the clouds are revealed to him, and overwhelming joy when those riches are “ready to drop” upon him. The opening agitato music re-enters suddenly on “I cried to dream again” as the dreamer is wrenched awake. Back in harsh reality, the opening chorus returns - though much more restlessly than earlier -  and there is a brief a capella coda on “sometimes voices will make me sleep.”

I offer my congratulations and best wishes to Cantabile and Director Rebecca Scott for their 20th anniversary, and my sincere thanks for our rewarding, continuing collaboration.

Bruce Lazarus
14May, 2007


The Isle Is Full Of Noises for SATB chorus and piano (complete)

"Lone Conversation for Clarinet" 

Megan Ankuda, clarinet

Recorded at the Boston Conservatory, 2005.

Lone Conversation for Clarinet (1994)

Jerry Rubino conducts Voices360, from the Oxford University Press promotional CD New and Recent Releases 2009

Live With Me, and Be My Love, Reginald Unterseher

Michael Kaulkin (b. 1967) is active in the San Francisco Bay Area as a teacher and as a composer of works for chorus, orchestra, film and the musical stage. His music has been described as “exceptionally beautiful on many counts.”  He is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory having previously studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary.  

More at www.michaelkaulkin.com

O Nacht - Michael Kaulkin - Zwei Hülshoff Lieder

Michael Kaulkin

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