2024 Concert Selection in concert order
The Promise of Living - (from The Tender Land) - Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
The promise of living....With hope and thanksgiving...Is born of our loving our friends and our labor, The promise of growing With faith and with knowing, Is born of our sharing our love with our neighbor. The promise of living, The promise of growing Is born of our singing in joy and thanksgiving.
For many a year we’ve known these fields And known all the work that makes them yield,
Are you ready to lend a hand?
We’re ready to work, we’re ready to lend a hand, By working together we’ll bring in the harvest,
the blessing of harvest.
We plant each row with seeds of grain, And Providence sends us the sun and the rain,
By lending a hand, By lendng an arm, Bring out, bring out from the farm,
Bring out the blessings, ... the blessings of harvest.
Give thanks there was sunshine, Give thanks there was rain,
Give thanks we have hands to deliver the grain, O let us be joyful, O let us be grateful to the Lord for His blessing.
The promise of ending in right understanding is peace in our own hearts...and peace with our neighbor,
The promise of living The promise of growing The promise of ending is labor and sharing and loving.
Music from our 2024 program - Recorded at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, September 14 and at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church - Vancouver, WA on September 15, 2024.
Alleluia - Elaine Hagenberg
Alleluia, all shall be Amen and Alleluia. We shall rest and we shall see,We shall see and we shall know, We shall know and we shall love, Behold our end which is no end, Alleluia, All shall be Amen!
Life - (Sara Teasdale -1884-1933 Jacob Narverud (b. 1986)
Life! Life has loveliness to sell. All beautiful and splendid things, blue waves whitened on a cliff, soaring fire that sways and sings. And children’s faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell, music like a curve of gold, scent of pine trees in the rain, eyes that love you, arms that hold: life. Life, and for your spirit’s light, Holy thoughts, the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, and never count the cost, for one white singing hour of peace, count many a strife well lost, and for a breath of ecstasy give all you have been, or could be.
Little Willow - (Words and Music by Paul McCartney) Arr. Susan Brumfield
Written by Paul McCartney of Beatles fame, Little Willow was written after the passing of a friend, this simple and eloquent expression of tenderhearted friendship, love, and grief brings hope for brighter days ahead. Set with a string accompaniment, it is a lyrical and sensitive concert pop selection for choirs of all ages. "Sleep, little willow, peace gonna follow. Time will heal your wounds. Grow to the heavens, now and forever always came too soon."
I Am (sung by SSA members of Chor Anno) - Momaday 1924-2024 Christian Grases b. 1973
am! I am a feather on the bright sky, I am the evening light, the lustre of the meadow, and eagle playing with the wind, I am a cluster of bright beads, I am the farthest star, a star, I am the cold of dawn, the roaring rain, I am a glitter on the crust of the snow, I am the long track of the moon in the lake. I am alive, you see, I am alive I am alive!
I Will Not Look Away (Tenors/Basses) Text by Lloyd Rishard, Jr. Sydney Guillaume b. 1982
No soothing words can comfort from a screen or a chair;
No empathy can be felt from the silence in the air.
The warning signs keep ringing Like their ears after the blast.
How can we keep tuning out the pains of the present, the wrongs of the past?
The warning signs keep ringing and I am not okay.
Powerless and paralyzed, I cannot look away. Who can bear this awful cost;
A family’s grief, a loved one lost.
So many shots fired...So much bloodshed...
Why should someone’s ignorance lead to another person dead?
Today, I will educate myself, and I will raise my voice.
I will raise my voice for them. Doing nothing is a choice.
To take a stand is to be in sight; To speak the truth is to be defamed;
To protect another is to take a fist; To be an ally is to be an accomplice.
I have something to lose, but, I will NOT look away.
I’m raising my voice. I will NOT look away.
My Song in the Night - (Traditional American Folk Hymn) Arr. Elaine Hagenberg
O Jesus my Saviour, my song in the night, Come to us with Thy tender love, my soul’s delight,Unto Thee, O Lord in affliction I call, My comfort by day and my song in the night.O why should I wander, a stranger from Thee, Or cry in the desert, Thy face to see?My comfort and joy, my soul’s delight, O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night.
Shall We Gather At the River - (Melody by Robert Lowry) Arr. by Blake Morgan
Shall we gather at the river, Where bright angel feet have trod; With it’s crystal tide forever, Flowing by the throne of God! Ere we reach the shining river, Lay we every burden down. Grace our spirits will deliver, And provide a robe and crown Yes, we will gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river,; Gather with the saints at the river Flowing by the throne of God. Shall we gather at the river, Where bright angel feet have trod; With it’s crystal tide forever, That flows by the throne of God? Shall we go together? Yes, we will gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river; Gather with the saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God!
Plaudite, Psallite - Kestutis Daugirdas - b. 1985
Latin: Plaudite, psalite, Jubilate Deo omnis terra, Alleluia. English: Clap your hands, sing praises, rejoice in God, all the earth, hallelujah. Latin: Benedicant Dominum omnes gentes collaudantes eum, Alleluia English: Let all nations bless the Lord, joining in his praises, hallelujah. Latin: Quia fecit nobis cum Dominus misericordiam suam, Alleluia. English: for the Lord has had mercy on us, hallelujah. Latin: Et captivam duxit captivitatem; Admirabilis et gloriosus in saecula, Alleluia. English: and he has led captivity captive, wonderful and glorious for all ages, hallelujah.
Sanctus from Missa Apostoloris - Heinrich Isaac
Latin: Sanctus. Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli Et terra gloria tua.
English: Holy Lord God of Hosts. Full are heaven and earth of glory thy.
Alleluia - Fredrik Sixten (b. 1962)
Only one word in this piece! How many ways can the word “Alleluia” be said and meant? This work alone says it in worship, with awe, with reverence, with power. Consider the use of the word in our compositions by Hagenberg and Daugirdas! It can be whispered. It can be shouted with joy, with delight and yes, even an affirmation of peace. Composers have continued to set this word (often alone, for sometimes there is little need for further text.) No doubt many high school choir members remember singing Randall Thompson’s famous “Alleluia.” Somehow it speaks from the heart.
The Times They Are A-Changin’ - Bob Dylan, Arr. Adam Podd
Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam,
and admit that the waters around you have grown,
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’
and you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land And don’t criticize what you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command...
Your old road is rapidly aging.
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand. For the times, they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast...The slow one now will later be last;
As the present now will later be past, the order is rapidly fading.
And the first one now will later be last, the first one now will later be last...
For the times they are a-changin’.
Time - Words and Music by Jennifer Lucy Cook
Rather than print the “repeating words” of Time, we provide program notes about the piece: The line between time's reality and its invention is blurry. In this new piece, the lyrics disappear and phrases take on new meaning. We lose time when we try to keep it; we spend time as we try to save it. Time insists upon eluding us; we can only notice the fact that time has been winking at us all along. This music is a way of winking back.
Crowded Table - Hemby, McKenna, and Carlile, Arr. Andrea Ramsey
Why does holding the hand of a friend or partner seem to help during a painful moment?
You can hold my hand when you need to let go. I can be a mountain when you’re feeling valley low,
I can be a streetlight showing you the way home.
If you can hold my hand when you need to let go.
I want a house with a crowded table, and a place by the fire for everyone.
Let us take on the world while we’re young and able,
and bring us back together when the day is done.
If we want a garden, we’re gonna have to sow the seed, plant a little happiness, let the roots run deep.
If it’s love that we give, then it’s love that we reap.
If we want a garden we’re gonna have to sow the seeds.
Yeah, I want a house with a crowded table, and a place by the fire for everyone.
Let us take on the world while we’re young and able,
and bring us back together when the day is done.
The door is always open, your picture’s on my wall.
Ev’ryone’s a little broken, and ev’ryone belongs.
I wanna house with a crowded table and a place by the fire when the day is done.
Becoming the Ocean - Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Jake Runestad (b. 1986)
It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled from the peaks of the mountains to the long winding road crossing forests and villages.And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter it she might disappear forever. There is no other way. The river cannot go back. No one can go back! The river must take the risk of entering the ocean; only then will fear disappear. That’s when the river will know it’s not disappearing into the ocean, but becoming the ocean.
Good Night, Dear Heart - Words by Mark Twain, Music by Dan Forrest (b. 1978)
Warm summer sun, Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind, Blow softly here,
Green sod above, Lie light, lie light.
Good night dear heart, Good night.
Sing You Home - Hillman, Ennis, Forrest, Arr. Mark Murphy (Soloist - Wendy Bloom)
Too soon to leave this earth. How could all your work be done?
Ash to ash and dust to dust, seems to me you’d just begun.
When grief invades my soul there’s comfort in a prayer, I find.
Though these candles honor you, they burn for those you left behind.
I’ll sing for you because I need to. Right now this is all I know.
I’ll sing so we will not forget you. I will sing you home.
Know that you will live on the lips of those who knew what it was you had to give,
and what it was they learned from you.
This is our prayer for you:
Maybe someday we will know if it helped your journey home or if it helped me let you go.
I’ll sing for you because I need to. Right now this is all I know.
I’ll sing so we will not forget you. I will sing you home.
We’re born unto this earth, generations one by one.
Ash to ash and dust to dust, There is nothing left undone.
I will sing you home.
I'll Be On My Way - Shawn Kirchner - (Soloist, Erik Edmundson)
When I am gone
Don't you cry for me
Don't you pity my sorry soul
What pain there might have been
Will now be passed
And my spirit will be whole.
I'll be on my way, I'll be on my way
I'll have left my feet of clay upon the ground
I will be glory bound
I'll be on my way
When I am gone
Please forgive the wrong that I might have done.
There'll be no room for regrets up there above,
Way beyond the blue.
When I am gone, don't you look for me in the places I have been.
I'll be alive but somewhere else, I'll be on my way again.
I'll be on my way, I'll be on my way.
I'll lift my wings and soar into the air
There'll be glory everywhere,
I'll be on my way.
I'll be on my way, I'll be on my way
I'll have laid my frown and all my burdens down
I'll be putting on my crown
I'll be on my way.
I'll have left my feet of clayupon the ground
I will be glory bound
I'll be on my way.
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