A Suggested Campaign Song

2016 | SATB Vocal Quartet/Piano 4-Hands

Poem by Alice Duer Miller.

Song 1 of cycle Are Women People?

Commissioned by The Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music and the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership. 

Premiere: March 15, 2017, Kilbourn Hall at The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

For the premiere, two vocal quartets were used: one for the a cappella songs, the other for the songs with accompaniment. Both quartets joined to sing The 19th Amendment.

Quartet 1: Sara Neally, soprano; Carolena Lara, mezzo soprano; Marcus Jefferson, tenor; Keith Klein, baritone

Quartet 2: Addie Rose Brown, soprano; Judith Prenzlow, mezzo soprano; Kameron Ghanavati, tenor; Adam Wells, baritone

Pianists: Rosanna Egge and Jeremy Vigil Conductor: Edo Frenkel

A Wild Sostenuto

2008 | Available in 2 keys — one for high voice, one for low

To the poem “For C.” by Richard Wilbur, about 4.5 minutes long.

To purchase Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here

Commissioned by the 2008 West Chester University Poetry Conference. The baritone version (with piano) was published in June 2008.

To purchase the recording with baritone Randall Scarlata and pianist Lori Laitman, from the CD Within These Spaces, please click here.

A Winter Night

1991-1992 | soprano/piano 

Poem by Sara Teasdale

Song 2 of The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs

To purchase Janeanne Houston and Robert Jorgensen performing this song, please click here

ERRATA:

In Song 2, A Winter Night: changes to tempo alterations from m. 37 -39

m. 37 add broaden

m. 38 add slightly slower at start of measure with poco rit starting over beat 3

m. 39 add Tempo I°

After Reading the Biography, Savage Beauty

2009 | soprano and piano

Poem by A.E. Stallings

Song 4 of Dear Edna

Commissioned by soprano Hope Hudson.

Against Still Life

2006, rev. 2017 | soprano/piano, also mezzo-soprano/piano version

Poem by Margaret Atwood

Song 1 of Orange Afternoon Lover

Jointly commissioned by The Howard Hanson Fund of The Eastman School and The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, and written expressly for soprano Eileen Strempel and pianist Sylvie Beaudette. This recording released spring 2010 on the Centaur Label: (In)Habitation: Settings of Margaret Atwood Poetry by American Women Composers.

Errata

Some newer editions may already have these corrections.

Soprano edition only: m. 160, Piano, Right Hand  - the rhythm should be the same as in m. 159, i.e., a dotted quarter, followed by an 8th note, followed by a quarter on beat 3.

Along with Me

1995| soprano/piano

Poem by Robert Browning

Song 1 of cycle Days and Nights

To purchase Phyllis Bryn-Julson and Seth Knopp performing this song, please click here

To purchase Sonya Baker and Vicki Berneking performing this song, please click here

ERRATA:

Tempo marking at beginning should be quarter = 92. A newly revised version will be available starting in November 2017. Please email me for details.

An Amethyst Remembrance

2006 | versions for all voice types with piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 1 of The Perfected Life

Dedicated to Joan Glick.

To purchase Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here

And I Will Bring Them

2001, rev. 2003, 2009, 2017 | soprano/piano or tenor/piano or countertenor or contralto /piano

Text from the Bible, Isaiah 56:7

2001, rev. 2003, 2009, 2017 | soprano/piano or tenor/piano or countertenor or contralto /piano

Text from the Bible, Isaiah 56:7

And Music Will Not End

Song Cycle: Partial Lunar Eclipse; A Pastoral Lament

baritone/piano or mezzo-soprano/piano or countertenor/piano

Poems by Anne Ranasinghe and John Wood.

Commissioned by the Lyrica Society for Word-Music Relations.

To purchase Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here

Are Women People?

Song Cycle: A Suggested Campaign Song; Without The Power To Vote; Take Pity; Warning to Suffragists; Relic; The Most Ignorant; Home and Where It Is; The 19th Amendment

2016 | SATB Vocal Quartet with Piano 4-Hands

Poems by Alice Duer Miller; and Text from Susan B. Anthony and The United States Constitution.

This cycle contains a miniature, excerptable a cappella cycle with text by Susan B. Anthony and The US Constitution. It was commissioned by The Hanson Institute for American Music at The Eastman School of Music and the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership, to celebrate 100 years of Women's Right to Vote in New York State

The premiere took place on March 5, 2017 at The Eastman School of Music at 3 pm in Kilbourn Hall.

I recorded this cycle with the Fourth Coast Ensemble and pianists Maria Sumareva and Andrew Rosenblum on January 19, 2020 for inclusion on my next CD release. 

ERRATA for editions prior to July 9, 2020:

Are Women People? 

Errata as of July 9, 2020 

SONG 1: A Suggested Campaign Song 

Piano 1:  

m. 2: add staccatos to beats 3 and 4 in both hands 

m. 3: add accent to downbeat 

m. 4: add crescendo 

Piano 2: 

m. 4: add crescendo

m. 5 add f on beat 1

ALL:

m. 7: change MM to q=152.

m. 30: Tenor and Bass: erase the tie and in m. 31, erase beat 1 note and put in a quarter rest instead.

m. 49: Soprano and Alto: erase the tie and in m. 50, the first two beats are now a half.

m. 58: Soprano: the “ble” of “suitable” should only be tied over to an 8^th note. Then rest the rest of the measure. 

m. 60: Tenor: change dynamic to forte. Bass: stay forte for whole measure.

m. 61: Soprano and Alto: change mf to forte and stay forte the whole measure.

m. 72: If the pianist isn’t loud enough to shout, one of the singers can be the optional shouter.

m. 113: Alto: Change dynamic to forte, and don’t tie the “one” over. Then the rest of the measure is rest.

SONG 2: Without the Power to Vote

m. 5 Tenor: change this dynamic to ff, then back to forte in the next measure.

SONG 3: Take Pity

ALL:

m. 16: 

Soprano: add a fermata for the first two beats on “you”

Alto: change pitch of beat 2 to a Db (down a M3 from the existing F) and add a fermata

Tenor: add a fermata to beat 3 on the word “you”

Bass: add a fermata to beat 3 on the held “you”

Last measure: Bass: leave the hairpins but erase the mf in the middle. Erase the mp destination dynamic.

NEW CHANGE on 6.24.20: Tenor, m. 22. Change duration of "works" to a quarter, followed by an 8th rest.

SONG 4: Warning to Suffragists

m. 14: All voices: change the word “women” to “woman”. 

m. 18: All voices: change the word “women” to “woman”.

m. 31 Piano 2: RH enter on beat 1+ and change duration of the Bb to a quarter (instead of 8th)

m. 54: Soprano: Change the rhythm on beat 1 to two 8^th notes. 

SONG 5: Relic

m. 5: All voice: change the duration of beat 1 (“York”) to a quarter note, followed by an 8^th rest (instead of a dotted quarter).

m. 8: Soprano: add an accent to the downbeat

m. 10: All: add a poco rit.

m. 11: All: add a new MM of q=82 and add an accent to the downbeat.

m. 16: Bass: change dynamic from mf to f

SONG 6: The Most Ignorant

All:

m. 1: Change MM to q=120

m. 9: Bass: erase beat 2 and put in a quarter rest. Put in a forte on beat 3, and erase mf in next measure.

m. 11: Bass: write in a mf

m. 24: Soprano: tie the Ab on beat 2+ to beat 3.

SONG 7: Home and Where It Is

m. 24: All: put in Slightly Slower (which will go until m. 26)

m. 42: Alto: keep existing notes but place the “ner” of “corner” on beat 2, creating a new melisma.

m. 81: Alto: change beat 3 to an Eb (instead of F).

m. 83: Soprano: the slur for the melisma should extend to beat 1 of m. 84

m. 109: Soprano: the last 8th has an optional note now: Eb (down 3rd from the existing Gb)

SONG 8: The 19^th Amendment – both with and without piano

m. 10: All voices: change beat 2 to a quarter note, followed by quarter rest in Alto, Tenor and Bass, but by an 8^thnotes in soprano, so that pickup to m. 11 remains the same.

m. 21: Soprano and Alto: change the half note duration to a quarter note and quarter rest (to match tenor).