Carroll University Concert Choir performs "Laetatus sum," by Michael Haydn. Seth Houston, conductor. Rhonda Kwiecien, pianist. October 25, 2013. Shattuck Auditorium.

M. Haydn, Laetatus sum

Carroll University Concert Choir performs "Homeward Bound," by Marta Keen and arranged by Mack Wilberg, at their 2013 Fall Concert,. Matthew Seider, baritone. Caylee Wells, flute. Rhonda Kwiecien and Annie Farrey, pianists. Seth Houston, conductor. October 25, 2013, Shattuck Auditorium.

Keen/Wilberg, Homeward Bound

Carroll University Concert Choir performs "An die Heimat" (Op. 64, no. 1), by Johannes Brahms, at their 2013 Fall Concert. Seth Houston, conductor. Rhonda Kwiecien, pianist. October 25, 2013, Shattuck Auditorium.

Brahms, An Die Heimat (Op. 61, No. 1)

Carroll University Concert Choir, Women's Ensemble, and Jazz Ensemble perform "Take Me to the Water," by Rollo Dilworth, at their 2013 Fall Concert. Seth Houston, conductor. Paula Foley Tillen, Women's Ensemble conductor. Pete Lange, Jazz Ensemble conductor. October 25, 2013, Shattuck Auditorium.

Dilworth, Take Me to the Water

Carroll University Vocal Collective performs "Famine Song," by VIDA and arranged by Matthew Culloton, at their 2013 Fall Concert. Kali Marcino, Paulina Francisco, Anne Rasmussen, and Matt Seider, soloists. Seth Houston, conductor. October 25, 2013, Shattuck Auditorium.

Vida/Culloton, Famine Song

"Brother, Do Not Weep" is an arrangement of a shape-note song about traveling to California during the Gold Rush. The original song, "The Dying Californian," is by Ball and Drinkard (1859) with a text by Kate Harris (1850). This arrangement, for divisi choir with mezzo-soprano solo, guitar, and piano, accompanies the tune with a plaintive groove in the lower voices, floating soprano lines, and austere accompaniment on piano and guitar. This recording is by UCI Chamber Singers, with Macy House, mezzo-soprano, Denisa Micliuc, piano, and Kenai Gonzalez, guitar, conducted by the arranger.

Brother, Do Not Weep (SBMP 1544)

Arrangement of the shape-note song "Meditation" (Elisha West, c. 1802) by Seth Houston. SATB a cappella with 2 soprano soloists. Performed by USC Thornton Recital Choir, conducted by the arranger, with sopranos Zanaida Robles and Kimberly Hessler, November 16, 2010. Published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Inc. (SBMP 996). 

More information:
http://www.sbmp.com/SR2.php?CatalogNumber=996
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Compositions/Entries/2012/6/30_The_Reapers_All_with_Their_Sharp_Sickles_(SBMP_996).html

Text:
The Reapers All with Their Sharp Sickles
Anonymous

The fields are all white, the harvest is near,
The reapers all with their sharp sickles appear,
To reap down their wheat, and gather in barns,
While wild plants of nature are left for to burn.

Come, then, O my soul, meditate on that day,
When all things in nature shall cease and decay.
When the trumpet shall sound, the angels appear,
To reap down the earth, both the wheat and the tare.

’Twill all be in vain, the mountains must flee,
The rocks fly like hailstones, and shall no more be:
The earth it shall shake, the seas shall retire,
And this solid world, then, will be all be on fire.
     
So farewell, I leave you, pond’ring your way,
The Lord seal instruction to what I now say.
Your souls to God’s throne be pour’d out in pray’r,
That you be prepared to meet Christ in the air. 

The Reapers All with Their Sharp Sickles (SBMP 996)

For SATB chorus a cappella. Words and music by Seth Houston, 1991. Performed by Village Harmony, directed by Larry Gordon. Published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing (SBMP 1046).

Emerald Stream (SBMP 1046)

Arrangement by Seth Houston of traditional Irish song for SATB chorus with tenor soloist, violin, flute, piano, bass, and 2 percussion. Performed by USC Thornton University Chorus, April 28, 2012, conducted by the arranger. Published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Inc. (SBMP 1086). 

More information:
http://www.sbmp.com/SR2.php?CatalogNumber=1086
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Compositions/Entries/2012/4/18_A_Miners_Life_(SBMP_1086).html

Text:
A miner’s life is like a sailor, 
Board a ship across the waves. 
Ev’ry day his life’s in danger, 
Many ventures being brave.

Watch the rocks, they’re falling daily, 
Careless miners always fail.
Keep your hand upon your wages, 
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners, stand together:
Do not heed the Coal Board’s tale! 
Keep your hand upon your wages, 
And your eye upon the scale.

You’ve been docked and docked again, boys, 
You’ve been loading three for one.
What’s the use in all your working
When your mining days are done?

Worn out shoes and worn out miners, 
Blackened lungs and faces pale. 
Keep your hand upon your wages, 
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners, stand together...

In conclusion, bear in mem’ry, 
Keep this password in your mind: 
Workers’ strength cannot be broken 
When unions be combined.

Stand up tall and stand together, 
Victory for you prevail.
Keep your hand upon your wages, 
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners, stand together...

A Miner's Life (SBMP 1086)

For SATB choir with piano. Words and music by Seth Houston. 

like beams of sunlight
dancing through the air
or fireflies on a moonless night
that flit and flutter over fresh-cut hay
in summertime

like dandelion seeds
that float on the wind
who knows where
in exuberant profusion
having forgot they were yellow flowers
just yesterday

so the pieces of my heart
the memories, joys and dreams in me
go dashing about through the universe
gliding and dancing and swirling and twirling
in a song for you

you, you are the music that makes me thrill
with melodies resounding to distant stars
and back again
to the meadow 
where we dance
you and me
amidst the dandelions and the fireflies

like beams of sunlight (MusicSpoke)

Choral duet version of "Stars I Shall Find" (also available SATB). Poem by Sara Teasdale. Music by Seth Houston. Performed by USC Thornton Oriana Choir, conducted by Troy Quinn, March 30, 2012. Published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Inc. (SBMP 1065).

More information:
http://www.sbmp.com/SR2.php?CatalogNumber=1065
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Compositions/Entries/2012/3/30_Stars_I_Shall_Find_(SA_or_TB)_(SBMP_1065).html

Poem:
There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.

I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace, – above me
Stars I shall find.

Stars I Shall Find (SA or TB) (SBMP 1065)

Words and music by Seth Houston, 1992. Composed in the "shape-note" style, with a "plain" first section followed by a "fuging" second section. SATB a cappella. Performed by Village Harmony, conducted by Larry Gordon.

More information:
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Compositions/Entries/1992/7/20_Big_Sky.html

Poem:
When the way is clear, and sunlight shines,
We pursue our way.
With nary a fear, we follow straight lines
Day after blinding day.

Put the path gets blocked, and the sky turns black,
Forcing us to pause,
And leave, with shock, our narrow track
For one with fewer flaws. 

When the sky is blue and the grass is green
We seldom check to see
If our pathway through this verdant scene
Leads toward harmony.

Then danger shakes our selfish minds,
We look to the sky,
New lives to make, new paths to find;
Listen to her reply:

“Live your lives,” says she, “with keen respect 
For your brothers of the Earth.
To be truly free, you must protect
Them with majesty and mirth.

“The ocean and air, forest, hill, and plain,
Animal in flight,
Are in your care. Rejoice in the rain
And walk in the way of light.”

Big Sky (SBMP 1185)

Seth conducted the choral movements of Bach’s Cantata No. 140, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” for his DMA Recital on November 16, 2010. Here is the first movement.  

Bach composed the piece for the twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity and premiered it on November 25, 1731. You can hear the chorale tune, by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608), sung and played by the sopranos and the horn.

More information: 
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Recordings/Entries/2010/11/16_Johann_Sebastian_Bach%2C_Wachet_auf.html

Bach, Cantata No. 140,  Wachet auf, opening chorale

Brahms composed “Sehnsucht” (“Longing,” Op. 112, no. 1) late in his life and published it as part of a set of songs that looks back at lost youth, looks forward to the terror of death, and brings to life memories of youth—particularly Brahms’s friendship with Joachim and the Schumanns—in the form of four Gypsy songs. This performance is by USC Thornton Recital Choir, with pianist Cassandra Nickols, on November 16, 2010. 

Longing

The waters run day and night,
Your longing awakes.
You think of past times,
That lie so far away.
You look out into the morning light
And are alone.
The waters run day and night,
Your longing awakes.

Franz Theodor Kugler (1808-1858)
Translation by Seth Houston

Brahms, Sehnsucht (Op. 112, no. 1)

Seth conducted USC Thornton University Chorus in Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling,” from “The Creation,” Hob. XXI: 2, with soprano Jenny Ching Yee Wong, tenor Chris Bingham, bass Dan Gibbs, and pianist Lauren Fraley, in Bovard Auditorium, November 21, 2011. 

More information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SywWZ9G90g
http://www.sethhouston.com/sethhouston/Recordings/Entries/2011/11/20_Joseph_Haydn%2C_The_Heavens_Are_Tellings%2C_from_%22The_Creation%22.html

Haydn, The Heavens are Telling (from The Creation)

Seth Houston conducts USC Thornton University Chorus, with pianist Lauren Fraley, in David Dickau's composition "If Music Be the Food of Love," November 21, 2011. 

Poem, by Henry Heveningham:

If music be the food of love,
Sing on till I am fill'd with joy;
For then my list'ning soul you move
To pleasures that can never cloy.
Your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare
That you are music ev'rywhere.

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,
So fierce the transports are, they wound,
And all my senses feasted are,
Tho' yet the treat is only sound,
Sure I must perish by your charms,
Unless you save me in your arms.

Dickau, If Music Be the Food of Love

The Dark Hills. Poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Music by Jenni Brandon. Performed by USC Recital Choir with Jennifer Johnson, oboe, and Cassie Nickols, piano, conducted by Seth Houston. 

The Dark Hills

Dark hills at evening in the west,
Where sunset hovers like a sound
Of golden horns that sang to rest
Old bones of warriors under ground,
Far now from all the bannered ways
Where flash the legions of the sun,
You fade – as if the last of days 
Were fading, and all wars were done.

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)

Brandon, The Dark Hills

Performed by the DeKalb Festival Chorus, cond. Houston, with soprano Moonja Jeong, organist James Nerstheimer, and NIU percussionists. Dec. 15, 2012. Recorded and edited by Dan Nichols. 

The words to “Brightest and Best” were written by Reginald Heber (1783-1826). Born to a wealthy family, Heber read the Bible fluently by age five and could quote chapter and verse. He went on to a brilliant career at Oxford before becoming vicar of his family’s estate. He wrote many hymns, most famously “Holy! Holy! Holy!”  

“Brightest and Best,” in addition to becoming part of the hymn repertory of numerous church denomination, also took on a life of its own in the folk music of the Appalachian mountains. Houston’s setting is based on an Appalachian version sung by Northern Harmony. The hymn tune is accompanied by organ and metal percussion instruments, mostly pitched. The resulting tapestries of sound depict both the austere coldness of the manger scene and the rich decadence of the wise men and their gifts.

Brightest and Best, arr. Seth Houston

Choral music composed, arranged, or conducted by Dr. Seth Houston (b. 1974). Seth Houston is director of choral activities at and associate chair for performance at the University of California, Irvine, where he conducts UCI Chamber Singers and teaches conducting, composition, and musicianship. Houston holds a D.M.A. degree in choral music from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, as well as earlier degrees from the University of Colorado, University of Michigan, and Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music. Houston’s compositions are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Inc., Walton Music/GIA, MusicSpoke, and Northern Harmony. For more information, please visit www.sethhouston.com.

Seth Houston

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