Choral Music Reviews
Gloria in Excelsis Deo SATB and piano by Jeff Trenchard The William Powell Choral Series Gentry Publications JG2487 – Also available in e-print 12 pages - $2.35 Performance duration: Approx. 3:05
Text
Gloria in excelsis Deo, glory to God in the highest Et in terra pax hominibus, bonae voluntatis Peace and good will to all His people o’er the earth Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te Deo gratias! We thank you and we praise you for your glory!
Gloria in Excelsis Deo is written in dedication to the Bel Canto Singers of West Seneca West Senior High School. It is a jubilant setting of this very familiar Latin text, and it seamlessly incorporates the English translation of that text in an alternating fashion throughout the piece.
After a rhythmic piano introduction, the treble voices enter in unison on the melodic theme “Gloria in excelsis Deo; Glory to God in the highest.” The tenor and bass voices enter on a counter theme starting in unison, while the sopranos and altos restart the melodic theme. As the song progresses, the harmonies unfold, and the texture shifts to homophony, as cleverly crafted by the composer. It continues through other sections of the text, each of which is realized with its own distinct melody a metric scheme.
Composer Jeff Trenchard uses the steady eighth-note drive from the piano, and the consistency of pulse within the changing meters, to keep the piece cohesive and strong. He clearly uses the changing meters and syncopated rhythms to serve the natural stresses in the text, and he places each voice in appropriate tessituras that complement the dynamics.
From my assessment of this piece, it would serve as an excellent and spirited opener, whether at the beginning of a concert or as a start to a different section of a concert. The piano accompaniment requires a skillful and energetic player who can handle syncopated rhythms and changing meters with accuracy and steadiness. As stated previously, the text alternates between Latin and English which provides a convenient translation for the listener.
I’m Building Me a Home Traditional Spiritual for SATB divisi, unaccompanied arr. by Anthony Trecek-King Cameron LaBarr Choral Series Walton Music Corporation WW1666 - Also available in large print 8 pages - $2.60 Performance duration: Approx. 4:20
Text
I’m building me a home This earthly house is gonna soon decay, an’ my soul gotta have somewhere to stay.
ala breve
When you hear me moanin’, I’m building me a home. When you hear me prayin’, I’m building me a home. When you hear me shoutin’, I’m building me a home.
As a long-time enthusiast of the spiritual, I concur with arranger Anthony Trecek-King that this is not a well-known title. A few decades ago, Dr. Uzee Brown, Jr. created a TTBB setting of this spiritual for the Morehouse Glee Club, published by Alfred Music. Since Brown’s arrangement is regrettably discontinued, I was pleased to see the Trecek-King’s newly-released SATB setting. He serves as the President and Artistic Director of the Boston Children’s Chorus, which, without disappointment, leads the reader to naturally expect a work of superior quality in this arrangement.
The piece begins in C# minor with the tenor and bass voices in unison, and in a low tessitura, particularly for the tenor voice. A footnote in the score indicates that tenors who are unable to sing the melody with the basses can opt out. Directors can also choose to have the piece sung a half step higher, if preferred. As soprano and alto voices get added, and the melodic contour rises, so does the third scale degree, thus, shifting between C# major and C# minor. This fluid interchange of tonality is very stylistic and characteristic of “raw” spirituals and blues, and rural church songs of African- American communities.
In his notes about this nicely crafted, mostly homophonic piece, Trecek-King states that his goal was “to produce something raw, and not to overly arrange or modernize it….” The eighth-note rhythm is intended to be swung, although not required, which works in conjunction with its duple meter, tempo indication, syllabic stress, articulations, and written-in dialect. Choral directors should also employ other standard rules of dialect for African-American spirituals (such as softening the “t” sound to a “d” sound on words like “gotta”).
The dynamics and key change serve as built-in intensifiers. The harmonies are stable and consonant throughout, which also adds to the intensity if the dynamics are observed as instructed. The voices are in unison in the final measure, which provides for a poignant and dramatic ending when the fermata is fully observed.
In my assessment, this piece is quite versatile, and can fit in most any portion of a choral concert. In other words, it can serve as an opener, closer, or “filler,” depending upon the other pieces in a given program. As well, the text is suitable in both sacred and secular settings. The performance emphasis should be to achieve a level of expression that goes beyond what is written on the page. In his own words about the arrangement, Trecek-King states: “The reason I wrote it was to find a simple yet effective arrangement so that the singers can focus on expression. There is not much there on paper, but there is a lot that one can do with it. It allows for individual expression.”
Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie Attributed to Huddie Ledbetter (a.k.a.“Lead Belly”) arr. by Robert Jones *For SSA Choir, two soloists, and string bass
35
William Powell
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