Partitions moyen pour Chœur mixte

An epic poem by Emerson that talks about music as mystery. The text is matched with equally mysterious music. A part of a larger work entitled “Sing Evermore.”

This piece gives occasion to explore complex harmonies as an expression of the mystery of chords. These are added-tone sonorities—clusters. The author searches for that perfect peace, the one lost cho...

Based on a poem by African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906). The bird, a prisoner in his cage, beats his wing until the blood is red on the cruel bars. He sings a plea, to Heaven, for he...

A short flute introduction of music floating across the sky opens “Sky-Born Music.” The poet (Emerson) writes that music is heard not only in places of beauty, but also in the mud, the dark, in the da...

The texts for these songs span many centuries and have the common thread of praising music for its power —from Richard Barnfield”s “In Praise of Music and Poetry” (published in 1598) to the uplifting...