classical

The single best piece of classical music ever composed.

Bach - Cello Suite No1 in G Major (Prelude)

Johannes Brahms ( 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs", a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.


Just Close your eyes and imagine :)


Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5

Unaccompanied Chorus, setting text of Christina Rossetti. Score available at www.forrestpierce.com.

Short is time, and only time is bleak;
Gauge the exceeding height thou hast to climb:
Long eternity is nigh to seek:
Short is time.
Time is shortening with the wintry rime:
Pray and watch and pray, girt up and meek;
Praying, watching, praying, chime by chime.
Pray by silence if thou canst not speak:
Time is shortening; pray on till the prime:
Time is shortening; soul, fulfil thy week:
Short is time.

Short Is Time, for SATB chorus

Africa Rag

A setting of a text by George Darley for SATB choir, Piano, and Cello.  Performed here by the 2011-2012 Rocky Mountain Singers of Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, CO.  The composer is conducting. 

"The Flower Of Beauty Slumbers" by Timothy Jon Tharaldson

Kantorei performs Kim Andre Arnesen's 'Even when He is silent'. Recorded live in concert May, 2014.

Arnesen - Even when He is silent

Kurt Knecht's setting of the Rumi poem Az Mohabbat.

Through love a prison becomes a rose bower 
Through love dregs taste like pure wine 
Through love the stake becomes a throne 
Through love the King becomes a slave
Through love dead comes to life

Through Love / Az Mohabbat

"The Dream Fairy" is a setting of a poem by Thomas Hood that provides an excellent chance to teach long flowing lines within the ranges of the typical middle school choir. A simple piano part and options for both changed and unchanged male voices makes it accessible for your middle school choir. 

Soprano: Patricia Lombardo
Alto: Alexia McAndrews
Bass: Timothy Tharaldson
Piano: Dr. Ruth Krusemark 

"The Dream Fairy" by Timothy Jon Tharaldson

Music composed by Stephen Paulus
Performed by the Dale Warland Singers, 1996

To purchase sheet music for this piece, use this link:
http://stephenpaulus.com/products/we-three-kings

We Three Kings

[ NB: This recording is a low-res version of a track from my CD — Moonstrung Air — featuring New York Polyphony. More information about the disc and the performers can be found here: http://www.gregorywbrown.com/cd-moonstrung-air/ ]

This Gold Rush-era tune shows up in several collections and in a variety of forms. My first experience with the tune was hearing the version by Cordelia’s Dad on their phenomenal folk/punk album, Comet. Band member Tim Eriksen has a more recent solo version which is close to the album version. My second experience with the tune comes from Vance Randolph’s excellent collection Ozark Folksongs (pp 180–2). The two versions of the song are fairly distinct in some ways, and my rendering draws on each to create my own, distinct, setting.

Dying Californian (men's chorus or solo trio)

Music for a King; First Presbyterian New Canaan

Three Nativity Carols; This Endris Night - Stephen Paulus

Journey To Barcelona  from my opera Don Henry

Rachael Rule, piano
India Taylor, voice
Jenn Thomas, cello
Hilary Lowery, clarinet

Text by Sylvia Townsend Warner

In that country pallor was from the ground,
darkness from the sky.
As the train took us by
we debated if it were mountain we saw or cloud

The bleached fields are pallid as truth might be.
Men move on them like clouds.
Dwellings like hempen shrouds
wrap up squalor with a grave dignity.

Pale is that country like a country of bone.
Dry is the river-bed.
Darkness is overhead,
threatening with the fruitfulness implicit in storm

The willows blanch, and catch their breath …
It rains in the hills!
The parched river-bed fills,
the sky thunders down fruitfulness

Faithful to that earth the clouds have gathered again.

Journey To Barcelona

Text by Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

HUSH! my dear, lie still and slumber,	 
  Holy angels guard thy bed!	 
Heavenly blessings without number	 
  Gently falling on thy head.	 
 
How much better thou'rt attended	 
  Than the Son of God could be,	
When from heaven He descended	 
  And became a child like thee!	 
 
Soft and easy is thy cradle:	 
  Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,	 
When His birthplace was a stable	
  And His softest bed was hay.

CRADLE HYMN (SATB) - Concordia A Cappella Choir

This track was recorded for a film called ROAD TO VALHALLA.

The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
In the ranks of death you will find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung along behind him;
"Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,
"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd never spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and brav'ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free, 
They shall never sound in slavery!"

The Minstrel Boy will return we pray
When we hear the news, we all will cheer it,
The minstrel boy will return one day,
Torn perhaps in body, not in spirit.
Then may he play on his harp in peace,
In a world such as Heaven intended,
For all the bitterness of man must cease,
And ev'ry battle must be ended.

"The Dream Fairy" by Timothy Jon Tharaldson

Timothy Tharaldson

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