The Gotham City Music Collective presents
Winter 2024 Choral Concert
GREENWICH HOUSE MUSIC SCHOOL
1 MARCH 2024
Please join us post-concert for a short reception followed by an afterparty at a Kettle of Fish.
Thank you to Spinor Photos for photography. Instagram @spinorphotos
Program Leaflet
Additional Notes on Repertoire
by Performance Order
Wide Open Spaces
The Island Itself
One of these Days
Honey Pie
Flowers
Father and Son
Pirate Song
Loch Lomond
MLK
Anthem
Stupid with Love
Robots
Klimovitcher Nigun
Black is the Color
My Soul is a River
Frozen (Choral Suite)
Ilus Hääl
Wide Open Spaces
by Sarah Quartel.
Commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 2015, this piece is among the many commissions Quartel has composed. Quartel says of her composing past, “Creating music has always come naturally to me. The phrase, “Sarah, that’s not Beethoven, you’re composing” could regularly be heard in my childhood piano lessons. (Whoops?)”
There’s part of my story,
there’s part of my song,
there’s part of my journey,
that’s yet to be found.With life all around us,
there’s so much to see,
adventure is calling,
it’s calling to me.Out in the wide open spaces around me.
With big sky above me,
I’m on my way.
Scanning the horizon
of a brand new day.Feet to the earth now,
there’s no turning back.
Into the world now,
look at me, look at me go!Out in the wide open spaces around me,
out in the wide open spaces around me.But as I journey out,
I look within and see,
the spaces inside of me,
yet to be filled,
filled with what I have seen
and what I will be, Oh!I’m filling the wide open spaces inside of me,
with something I love,
something I would like to be, be, be.
Filling the wide open spaces inside of me.
Filling the wide open spaces within me.
The Island Itself
by Sarah Quartel.
Quartel sets to haunting melody the words of Irish poet Joan McBreen. The titular island is Omey in County Galway off the west coast of Ireland, the historical site of a monastery and settlement reportedly founded by St Feichin.
The piece is sung a cappella and is reminiscent of a modern Celtic style with an ebb and flow evocative of waves off the beach.
Homage to Omey
by Joan McBreen (1944)Afternoon sun on my back,
irregular slap of water on rock,
and then, a skylark.Fine sand blown over
the hill’s top, over the lake,
swans, and the sound they make.Aquamarine, the colour of the sea.
Nobody to say my name,
no one to listen to me.Nothing to remember
but the currents swell and shift
and the island itself;again my head thrown back,
my eyes shut, clear music in the air
and the smell of sea-wrack.
One of these Days
by Sarah Quartel.
GCMC favorite, composer, and educator Sarah Quartel serves another banger in this 2021 piece. Like many Quartel pieces, the complex rhythm deepens the piece, in this case swinging between 3/4 and 4/4 time.
Isn’t it amazing how the years go by
Gone before they begin
Isn’t it amazing how these dreams go by
when you’re waiting for them to come
Isn’t it amazing we go on this way
seeing shadows of what could be done
Maybe I’ll see that today is enough
and this moment is all that I need
Maybe I’ll stand up and go my own way
for the beauty I know I will see one of these daysBreathing in the moment isn’t good enough
if you believe that hard must be right
Maybe if it’s easy it’s still worth it all
There’s a diamond deep in the fire
So one of these days
I’m gonna fly away
I’m gonna fly away
So one of these days when I find my own way
I’ll find that it’s today
Honey Pie
by Paul McCartney.
From the 1968 double album “The Beatles” (also known as “the White Album”).
Flowers
by Anaïs Mitchell.
From the musical “Hadestown”.
Father and Son
by Yusuf/Cat Stevens.
Wrote for the propsed musical “Revolussia,” but shelved when Stevens nearly died of tuberculosis.
Pirate Song
by Tim Jones.
Because sometimes you just need to say “arrrr”!
A pirate sang a song to me
He sang of life upon the sea
He sang to me with gravelled tones
He sang to me of Billy BonesPirates make me happy!
A pirate sang a song to me
He had no leag below his knee
He sang the song the best he could
His tongue was also made of woodFor romance find a pirate
My pirate comes from Tripoli
My pirate curses saltily
My pirate is not snooty
My pirate shakes his booty
My pirate swaps the deck
like noone else can swap the deckMy pirate sang a song to me
His face was kind of barnacley
He told me that my parrot stank
And so I made him walk the plank
Loch Lomond
Scottish Traditional. Arranged by Jonathan Quick.
Loch Lomond (‘Lake of the Elms’) is the largest lake in Great Britain, found in Scotland near Glasgow. Evidence suggests humans settled nearby during the neolithic era, and–somewhere in the next 5000 years–developed this ballad. The speaker pines for the beautiful landscape of home, but claims suggests zhe will only return via the “low road”–death, likely dying in rebellion against the English.
O ye’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road,
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
MLK
by U2. Arranged by Bob Chilcott.
Irish rock group U2 debuted this ode to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on 18 October 1984.
Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realised
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain on him
Anthem
by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice.
from the 1984 musical “Chess”
Stupid with Love
by Jeff Richmond. Arranged by Nell Benjamin.
From the musical “Mean Girls”
Robots
by Flight of the Conchords. Arranged by Shane Scott.
The humans are dead.
Klimovitcher Nigun
Ashkenazi Traditional.
Nigunim are a Jewish tradition that are meant as mystical prayers, sacred practices, and a path to deepen the soul. They are performed in an expressive vocal style with dramatic inflections similar to cantorial music. This piece originated from Chabad Chassidim in the town of Klimovitch. It was later popularized by the Chassid Reb Rephael Kahn.
Black is the Color
Appalachian Folk Song. Arranged by Roger Emerson.
This plaintive folk song is most associated with Appalachia, though is thought to be largely derived from Scottish ballads. This melody is attributed to John Jacob Niles circa 1941.
Black is the color of my true love’s hair
Her lips are something wondrous fair
The purest eyes
And the daintiest hands
I love the ground on where she stands
My Soul is a River
by Ben Allaway.
This swinging spiritual piece premiered on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 75th birthday in 2004. The lyrics are an expansion of the Biblical book of Amos 5:24.
My soul is a river winding through a weary land.
Let justice roll down like waters,
righteousness like a mighty stream
Washing o’er a thirsty land.
My soul is a river, your soul is a river,
Join up down the river, fill a mighty ocean with peace.
Frozen (Choral Suite)
by Christophe Beck and Leo Birenberg. Arranged by Roger Emerson. Lyrics by Christine Hals.
Composed for the 2017 Disney film “Frozen.” This arrangement concatenates several choral snippets scattered throughout the film: Heimr Árnadalr, Vuelie, and The Great Thaw. We begin with “Heimr Árnadalr,” seen during the coronation of Queen Elsa performed in the film by a red-robed, twelve-member choir shown briefly on screen. The opening title sequence of the film plays “Vuelie”, which is later reprised as “The Great Thaw” as Elsa learns to dispell the cursed winter besetting Arendelle. The piece borrows from ‘yoik’ — a traditional form of song from the Sami people.
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Ilus Hääl
by Margrit Kits. Arranged by Laura Jēkabsone.
Jēkabsone arranged this piece for the 100th anniversary of Estonia in 2018. The lyrics are in Estonian, and the music shows the style and beauty of the folksongs common to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
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