Be Near Me by Greg Bartholomew A setting for unaccompanied Mixed Choir (SATB) of Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Tennyson Sung by Sarah Brailey & Matthew Curtis of Choral Tracks. The text for Be Near Me is Canto 50 from the poem...  moreBe Near Me by Greg Bartholomew A setting for unaccompanied Mixed Choir (SATB) of Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Tennyson Sung by Sarah Brailey & Matthew Curtis of Choral Tracks. The text for Be Near Me is Canto 50 from the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. by the British Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson (1809 -1892). Published in 1850, the poem is an extended requiem for the poet's beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1833, age 22. It is considered one of the greatest poems of the 19th Century and was reported to be a great favorite of Queen Victoria. Sheet music available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/Be-Near-Me/11339264.item For more information visit http://www.gregbartholomew.com/benearmeindex.html #Choralmusic #choir #tennyson  less

Score video of FIRE AND ICE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963). Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine and again in 1923 in his Pulitzer ...  moreScore video of FIRE AND ICE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963). Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Published in December 1920 in Harper's Magazine and again in 1923 in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book New Hampshire, "Fire and Ice" is one of Robert Frost's most popular poems. Some have asserted that the poem is a compression of Dante's Inferno. In an anecdote he recounted in 1960, prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley claimed to have inspired Fire and Ice in an encounter with Frost a year before the poem was published. Frost asked Shapley how the world will end, and Shapley responded that either the sun will explode and incinerate the Earth, or the Earth will somehow escape this fate only to end up slowly freezing in deep space. Sheet music for FIRE AND ICE is available from J.W. Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/11129789.item For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com/fireindex.html #Choralmusic #choir #RobertFrost  less

STOKE FLEMING for unaccompanied mixed choir (SATB) by Greg Bartholomew Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Sheet Music is available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/10503196.item Stoke Fleming is a small hamlet on the English...  moreSTOKE FLEMING for unaccompanied mixed choir (SATB) by Greg Bartholomew Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Sheet Music is available from J.W.Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/10503196.item Stoke Fleming is a small hamlet on the English Channel. The text for this work is a secular meditation on the rocks and the waves written by the composer during a weekend stay there in 1978. The music was completed in January 2000 and received a reading by the Gregg Smith Singers at the Adirondack Festival of American Music in July 2000. For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com #ComposersOfChoralMusic #ChoralMusic #AmericanMusic  less

PRAIRIE SPRING by Greg Bartholomew A setting for SAB choir of the poem by Willa Cather. With optional piano accompaniment. Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an American writer best known for her novels of fron...  morePRAIRIE SPRING by Greg Bartholomew A setting for SAB choir of the poem by Willa Cather. With optional piano accompaniment. Recording by Matthew Curtis (Choral Tracks). Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an American writer best known for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains. Prairie Spring was first published in 1913 as the prologue to the novel O Pioneers! Sheet music is available from J. W. Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/11208222.item PRAIRIE SPRING Evening and the flat land, Rich and sombre and always silent; The miles of fresh-plowed soil, Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness; The growing wheat, the growing weeds, The toiling horses, the tired men; The long empty roads, Sullen fires of sunset, fading, The eternal, unresponsive sky. Against all this, Youth, Flaming like the wild roses, Singing like the larks over the plowed fields, Flashing like a star out of the twilight; Youth with its insupportable sweetness, Its fierce necessity, Its shar...    less

Score video of THE FERVID HOKEY POKE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Jeff Brechlin. Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Jeff Brechlin won The Washington Post's Style Invitational in March 2003 with his poem T...  moreScore video of THE FERVID HOKEY POKE, Greg Bartholomew's setting for mixed choir (SATB) of the poem by Jeff Brechlin. Audio recording by Matt Curtis (Choral Tracks). Jeff Brechlin won The Washington Post's Style Invitational in March 2003 with his poem The Hokey Poke. The competition asked readers to rewrite some banal instructions in the stvle of a famous writer. Brechlin chose to rewrite one verse of the traditional dance song The Hokey Pokey as if written by William Shakespeare, for which he won the prize of a shotgun shell salt and pepper shaker. His poem is used with permission. For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com/hokeyindex.html  less

An a cappella Choral piece on Ecclesiates 3:11, recorded by Matthew Curtis, Choral Tracks, LLC. Copyright 2014 by Pavane Publishing, all rights reserved,

Boston’s busy Choral music scene is one dominated by sacred Choral music. The Boston Secular Chorus will be a stand-out organization. It will only perform secular Choral masterworks; no sacred music will ever be programmed. The repertoire will include wor...  moreBoston’s busy Choral music scene is one dominated by sacred Choral music. The Boston Secular Chorus will be a stand-out organization. It will only perform secular Choral masterworks; no sacred music will ever be programmed. The repertoire will include works from ancient to modern times. The Boston musical scene is all but devoid of this type of programming, let alone this being the case on a regional or even a national level. The goal is for the chorus to start small, sixteen or more excellent singers, but to think large. The eventual goal is for the chorus to have enough members to perform large ensemble secular masterworks with area orchestras. However, if its fate is to remain a smaller, more select group of singers, then that would be an equally good outcome; so much good and often neglected music exists for such ensembles. Hybrid performances will be the norm. Choral music concerts will eventually include both conventional concert presentations and ones which will include interdisciplinary efforts.  less

Erik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella Choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try. Creating a Choral adaptation of a piano piece ha...  moreErik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella Choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try. Creating a Choral adaptation of a piano piece has its challenges. I tried to keep faithful to Satie's original musical inspiration and created lyrics to go with my arrangement that evoke an early summer morning, one of my favourite times of the year. Several months later, I applied to be a participant at one of the Vancouver Chamber Choir's Interplay workshops funded by the SOCAN Foundation and to my delight I was accepted. "As dawn breaks" was one of the pieces that this amazing choir sight read for me on the spot. VCC director Jon Washburn and choir members then provided me with valuable feedback, for which I am very grateful. NB: One day I woke up to the realization that I had independently written four Choral works, each of which had evoked a different season, and so it seemed natural to group ...    less

"Aurum, aurum!" is dedicated to Asira Shukuru. It is a musical search for the meaning of gold, a Choral exploration of our human relationship to this precious metal. In Latin and English. As always, comments are most welcomed. Sincere thanks to Matt...  more"Aurum, aurum!" is dedicated to Asira Shukuru. It is a musical search for the meaning of gold, a Choral exploration of our human relationship to this precious metal. In Latin and English. As always, comments are most welcomed. Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (ChoralTracks.com) for recording "Aurum, aurum!" Email me at rain@magma.ca, if you'd like more info, or to obtain a copy of the score. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. I would also like to thank my friends in our "Ad hoc Chorale" for testing out this piece in one of our informal workshops and offering valuable comments. And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and my friend Geneviève Lajoie for their invaluable support throughout my composing journey.  less

"Let's sing, it's Spring!" is dedicated to my uncle and aunt, James and Daphne Shaw, and their amazing clan, the "Bowen Island Shaws." I have given this song the sub-title: "A Crazy Choral Etude for Rolled Rs and Perfect 5ths." It is meant, no pun inte...  more"Let's sing, it's Spring!" is dedicated to my uncle and aunt, James and Daphne Shaw, and their amazing clan, the "Bowen Island Shaws." I have given this song the sub-title: "A Crazy Choral Etude for Rolled Rs and Perfect 5ths." It is meant, no pun intended, to be a musical lark, great fun for a choir to sing, rolling Rs like crazy, with no holding back. NB: One day I woke up to the realization that I had independently written four Choral works, each of which had evoked a different season, and so it seemed natural to group them together into a Choral suite that I have called "The Ottawa Four Seasons Suite." "Let's sing, it's Spring!", with its rousing coda section, works perfectly as the closing number of this suite. Also of note, in early 2018, I applied to be a participant at one of the Vancouver Chamber Choir's Interplay workshops funded by the SOCAN Foundation and to my delight I was accepted. "Let's sing, it's Spring!" was one of the pieces that this amazing choir sight read for me on the sp...    less