Choral Composition Highlight: Herbert Howells and his requiem.

So, I thought I'd share/talk about a lesser known yet incredibly respected choral work, Herbert Howells' Requiem. As relatively niche choral music can be, Howells is even further ostracized. He's a composer who is especially performed in British circles and Anglican/Episcopalian church yet has trouble escaping that general crowd. So...in other words, he's one of those composers "you either know or don't know."

To add salt to the wound, the Requiem is a work which has only recently been performed. Why? Howells actively hid the work and wouldn't allow it to be performed. It's not that he felt shame over the Requiem. Rather, it's the same reason everybody seems to love most 20th century/romantic works: it was too personal a work. Requiems are masses written for the dead, and sometime around 1930 Howells was commissioned to write one. As he was writing the work, his son tragically and suddenly died during the writing processes. Stricken with grief, Howells completed the work and locked it in a drawer, refusing to let it be performed (or let anybody know it was written) for 50 years. Thankfully, the work has been receiving a lot of attention and performances recently, and it's quickly become one of his more talked about works.


At any rate, I think the work is worth sharing (especially if you don't know it) because of the emotional power it packs while existing in that lovely quasi-tonal world a lot of early 20th century choral works seems to sit in. The work is very modal in nature, using an almost plain-song like melody in the first movement selected. I've also included the final movement as an example of the wide scope of emotions the work covers. While there's no "happy" or even "peaceful" section of the work, Howells does cover a wide range of emotions in the work ranging from outright rage to quiet defeat to an almost bittersweet admittance of passing on. I highly recommend listening to the entire work-it's seriously worth it (though tissues may be needed!)

Look! Pedagogical Music!

Look! A pedagogical piece! I'm happy to share another work from my recital, and one of the opening pieces: Fanfare 263 for Euphonium/Tuba Quartet. Writing for amateur/high school kids is something hard for me to do, yet something I feel any composer worth their salt should be able to do. This is the end-product. Enjoy!

Activism in Music...or something like that. (It's kind of Gay)

So...it's been a while again. The name of the game in what I've been thinking about lately is Activism in music.

While the thought often fills me with bile (I'm kind of an Absolute music kind of person,) I have noticed a trend in socially/politically charged music popping up lately.  This is a soapbox I love and hate at the core of my being. Artists moonlight as commentators and activists for society. Even if we choose to shun and pull ourselves away from our environment, we are deeply and profoundly influenced by the workings with deal with each day. While Johnny Red Herring while pain it red seals to highlight the blood of all animals spilt, even the quiet, absolute-artist artist comments on society by actively pulling away from it. With that in mind, I've been forcing myself to get "involved in the world" as an artist. What the worst thing that can come from trying to get actively involved...other than exposing myself by saying "HEY! I BELIEVE X!!!!"

The set I'm working on is, something I actively fight for and believe in, LGBT (or just plain human) Rights. Simply put, no matter where an individual stands on sexuality and religious matters, most debated LGBT rights are completely secular in nature. Our governments, insurance companies, laws and taxes are completely blind to color, race, religion, gender and sexuality. The fact that it's even brought up on being "morally right or wrong" completely flabbergasts me...but enough of that.

What I did decide to do, rather than poke somebody's eye out with a propaganda wand, is make a case by example. Rather than saying: "Hey! Gay people are A-okay!!!" I want to show it using something quite universally accepted in the western world-love poetry. Somebody's sexuality is a much more complicated relationship than who they're getting in bed with. At its core, relationships are built on love and want to be around somebody. In other words: sexuality deals with the (romantic, not spiritual sense of the word) love people have for each other. Each movement in this cycle is a love poem written by a famous poet who was Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual. Additionally, each movement talks about a different form of Love. As I put it in a recent recital: "The work is a commentary of the psychology of love as told by the LGBT community."
Ultimately, the only thing "Gay" about the work is the sexuality of the poets. Besides that, it's just a simple collection of love poetry everybody can recognize and empathize with. There is no magic pedestal separating Hetero and Homosexuality. They have minor differences...but at their core, they're the same thing.

Soon™, the entire set will be performed. Until then, here're some excerpts from the cycle. The movements are:

II: Bury (Shame through love-Sara Teasdale)
IV: Jars (Unrequited yet uncaring love-Amy Lowell)
V: Black (Self-Righteousness and Self-Worth through Love, Shakespeare)
VI: Springtime (Giddiness and Impetousness from love, Sara Teasdale)
VIII: Grass (Contentment through wholistic, love of and for the Divine, Walt Whitman)