5. CHAMBER MUSIC (a) VOICE + INSTS

(Scores in alphabetical order)

COLOURS
 (2007) (Anne Stevenson) 14' 

high voice, trumpet and organ 

Commissioned by Deborah Calland

         I. The Circle 
         II. Enough of Green          


1st perf (I): Sarah Leonard (sop), Deborah Calland (tpt), Thomas Corns (org), Robinson  College, Cambridge, 11 September 2007. 

Pub. S&B  Copies available for purchase, ref AC239

HARE IN THE MOON, THE  (1978, rev. 1979) (Ryokan) 9' 

soprano,  vibraphone, marimba, double bass

1st perf: Carole Gaspar (soprano), Matthew Furfine (vib), Henry Claude (mar), Karen Katzen (db), St Louis Conservatory, St Louis, Missouri, USA, 2 May 1979;  1st UK perf: Miriam Aellig, soprano, players from the Royal Academy of Music, London, St Cyprian’s Church, London NW1, 31 May, 2001.

Pub. S&B  Copies available for purchase (four copies supplied),  ref AC159 

 

HAZE AND THE ABSENCE OF CLOUDS (2011) (H.D.Thoreau; Z. Ghose) c.16'

high voice, string quartet and piano 

Commissioned by WAM, the Reading Festival of Weather, Art and Music, 2012 
Texts:  Haze (Henry David Thoreau);  Conspiracy of the Clouds (Zufikar Ghose) 


1st perf: Alison Pearce (soprano), Mark Packwood (piano), Toki Quartet, WAM, the Reading Festival of Weather, Art and Music, Reading Town Hall, Reading. 2 June 2012 

Pub. S&B. Scores and parts available for purchase, ref Y296 

A reduction for high voice and piano (for rehearsal purposes only) is also available for purchase, ref Y300.

 

HIS GAZE UPON OPHELIA  (May, 2014)  (Wm. Shakespeare) 7½'

soprano, viola and piano

 

MOON AND BIRDS (2011) (A.Stevenson & E. Dickinson) 11'

medium voice and chamber ensemble (flute, harp and string quartet) 

Commissioned by Contemporary Connections for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Women Musicians

      I.  Blackbird                        

     II.  The moon is distant     

    III.  Bird in hand 
    IV.  On not being able to look at the moon  LISTEN 

1st perf: Frances Bourne (mezzo-soprano), Centenary Ensemble, Andrew Morley (cond), St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London, 4 November 2011 

Pub. S&B. Score and parts available for purchase, ref Y292 

 

MY HEART BESIDE (2021-22) (Emily Dickinson) 12' 

medium/high voice, viola, piano


       1. Summer's Leave
       2. Dear March

        3. It's all I have to bring today


1st perf. of no. 1 : Elgan Llŷr Thomas, tenor, Rosalind Ventris, viola, Ian Tindale, piano.  Wigmore Hall, London, 22 October, 2022.

Commissioned by the Ludlow English Song Weekend for their Anniversary Celebration.   

Pub. Tŷ Cerdd 


NANTCOL SONGS (2003) (Anne Stevenson)  11' 

medium/high voice and harp ensemble (6 harps) 

Commissioned by the Harp Department, Royal Academy of Music, London

       I. The Wind, the Sun and the Moon 
      II. A Perfect View LISTEN 


1st perf: Anna Dennis (soprano), Royal Academy of Music Harp Ensemble, Skaila Kanga (dir), Gareth Wood (cond), Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, 27 November 2003. 

Pub. S&B  Score and parts (six harps) available for purchase, ref AC212 

  

OF SWANS, SNAILS AND GEESE  [May Sarton] (1991 rev. 2015) 14'

Original version: 4 solo voices and 3 electric guitars; revised version: 4 solo voices and piano  

Commissioned by Red Byrd with funds from the Arts Council of Great Britain

        1. The Memory of Swans
        2. Eine Kleine Snailmusik
        3. Franz, a Goose

1st perf: Red Byrd (Linda Hirst, Ian Honeyman, John Potter, Richard Wistreich) & Tragicomedia (Erin Headley, Stephen Stubbs, electric guitars, Andrew King, bass guitar), Queen Elizabeth Hall, 31 January, 1991.

Contemporary Music Network Tour, Spring 1991.

Copies available from the composer. 

 

ORPHEUS  [Tabitha Hayward] (2020) 10'

for voice, lute and viol

(or voice, guitar and cello)

 

        1.Orpheus Descending LISTEN 

        2. Orpheus and the Spheres LISTEN 


1st perf.: Margarida Vaz Neto , soprano, Emanuele Addis, viol, Ben Finlay, cello, Royal Academy of Music, London, 17 June, 2022

lPub. Tŷ Cerdd

 

RIVER, A  (2007) (Anne Stevenson)  9' 

soprano, baroque or modern oboe, harpsichord and bass viol or cello 

Commissioned by ‘Music in the Village’, Walthamstow, London, with funds provided by the audience of ‘Music in the Village’ and the Britten-Pears Foundation 


1st perf: Natalie Clifton-Griffith (soprano), Gail Hennessy (baroque oboe), Reiko Ichise (bass viol), Terence Charleston (harpsichord), St Mary’s Church, Walthamstow, London, 21 February 2008. 

Pub. S&B Score and parts available for purchase, ref Y243

RONDEAU (1979 rev. 2020) (Horiguchi Daigaku, trans.)  LISTEN                                           

baritone and chamber ensemble (fl, Bb cl, vibr, vla, cello)    
      

        Prelude – Verse I – Interlude  – Verse II -- Interlude – Verse III --  Coda


Ist perf: Edmund LeRoy, baritone, New Music Circle Players, St Louis, 15 May, 1979.

 

The music was compact, coherent, and beautifully laid out for the ensemble . . .this work has fluency and a good sense of what to do with the given instruments; it should stand up well under second and third hearings. 

                                                   Frank Peters, St Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 May, 1979
Copies available from the composer. 

 

THREE SONGS WITH GUITAR (1989)  c.10'

voice and guitar  


        1. A dream within a dream (A.E.Poe) 
        2. Night (W. Soyinka) 
        3. If the owl calls again (J.Haines)


1st perf:  Mateo Palma, baritone, Ana Maria Reyes, guitar, Sala Lessing, Instituto Chileno-Alemán de Cultura, Concepción, Chile, 23 August 1990;  1st USA perf:  Tom King, tenor, Paul Binkley, guitar, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee, 17 Oct. 1991; 1st UK perf: Robert Johnston, tenor, Craig Ogden, guitar, St Mary Magdalene Church, Bleddfa. Presteigne Festival, 29 August, 1996.    

Pub. Andresier Editions (Bardic Edition), 2003 

 

[Rhian Samuel’s] Three Songs with Guitar is a beautiful, crystalline work, which could be sung either by a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or tenor. . .  The songs are wonderfully contrasted in mood and would be an interesting addition to any program

.                                                     Sharon Mabry, NATS Journal,(USA) Sept/Oct 1989

THREE YEATS SONGS (1968 rev. 2017) (W.B.Yeats)  5½'

medium voice & flute

       1. Had I the Heavens' Embroidered Cloths
       2. He and She
       3. Sweet Dancer


1st perf: Louine Noble (mezzo-soprano), Judith Ann Johnson (flute), Graham Chapel, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA, 12 December, 1967.

Pub. Tŷ Cerdd, 2017

TRINITY (2004) (Anne Stevenson)  9'

high voice, flute and piano 

Commissioned by Maki Yoneta for the Birmingham Conservatoire International

Accompanists’ Competition Prizewinner’s Concert

         I. Trinity at Low Tide  LISTEN  LISTEN
         II. Without Me  LISTEN 
         III. Vertigo   LISTEN   


1st perf: Joana Seara (sop), Gemma Jukes (fl ), Maki Yoneta (pf ), Birmingham Conservatoire, 1 March 2005. 

Pub. Stainer & Bell. Score and parts available for purchase, ref Y220 

 

 [Samuel’s settings] are dazzlingly inventive, maybe more akin to a flute sonata with added voice, than songs with added flute, but all the more interesting for it. The first song,‘Trinity at Low Tide’, toys with the poem’s concept of reflection, each of the four lines (the left and right hands of the piano are divided) fading in and out of unison, mirroring each other, overlapping and parting to create a ripple of texture. ‘Without Me’ is sparse – at times distant, at others harsh, even jarring. In ‘Vertigo’, the voice interjects between the flute’s dizzying pyrotechnics prevented from falling into Stevenson’s ‘naked abyss’ of the mind by the grounding left hand of the piano. These songs are a virtuoso display for all involved and not least from the composer whose intricate writing matches Stevenson’s deep yet concise poetry.

                                                               Armin Zanner, Music Teacher, Jan. 2006

 

TROIS CHANSONS DE FRANCOIS VILLON (1969, rev. 1998)  4½'

soprano and flute and piccolo

       I. Ballade 1  [with flute]
       II. Ballade 2 [with piccolo] 
       III. Epistre [with flute] 


1st perf (orig. version): Holly Outwin (soprano), Anne Swearingen (fl & picc), Graham Chapel, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA, 13 December 1970. 

Rev. version pub. S&B  Copies available for purchase (two copies supplied),  ref Y168

WITCH'S MANUSCRIPT, THE  (1985) (Carol Rumens) 10'

 soprano and brass quintet (2tpt, tbn, hn, tba)

1st perf: Tamsin Dives (mezzo-soprano), The Downshire Players (Julian Poore, Bruce Nockles, tpts, Peter Ash, hn, David Stowe, tbn, Melvyn Poore, tuba). St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 4 February 1987.

Pub. S&B  Score and parts available for purchase,  ref Y156 

 

A brief work of fantasy and drama for female voice and brass quintet.  Primarily a traditional use of the voice with a wide vocal range, large leaps, great dramatic contrasts, and two sudden outbursts of pitched shouting that encompasses only the head voice range. Requires a voice capable of easily achieving enough vocal power to match the instruments. 

                        Sharon Mabry, Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music (OUP, 2002)