This Central Garden For SATB Choir, Brass, Timpani, and Piano  (ca. 5:45)

Gladde Music Publications Choral Score  (GMP0601) - $1.95 Conductor's Score/*Instrumental Parts  (GMP0601X) - $50.00

Commissioned for the 50th Anniversary of the Fresno Community Chorus - Fresno, California Anna Hamre, Director The inspiration for "This Central Garden" grew from the composer's friendships with two wonderful California choral conductors.  During summer conferences of the California chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, the composer met Dr. Ginger Colla and subsequently met Dr. Anna Hamre. GINGER COLLA has directed choirs at the elementary, junior high, high school, and college levels.  She has also directed community and church choirs.  She served as president of the Western Division ACDA and her choirs have performed throughout the state, across the nation, and overseas.  Throughout her career Ginger has been honored with many distinguished awards, most recently the 2004 Howard S. Swan award given annually to a retired choral director who has made major contributions to the choral art in California.  If that isn't enough.......Ginger is also a poet in her "spare" time!  One summer, she shared her poem entitled "The Cathedral" as a potential lyric if the composer was ever searching for new texts. ANNA HAMRE met the composer (also at the same conference) where a personal and professional friendship immediately ensued.  Anna has performed, premiered, recorded, and commissioned a number of the composer's choral works.  She is the Director of Choral Activities at Fresno State University as well as director of the Fresno Community Chorus.  In 2006, she was invited to conduct Faure's Requiem in Carnegie Hall.  Since then, she has been invited to conduct a mass choir in Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympics.....as well as in Vienna in 2009......a busy, successful conductor!! The Fresno Community Chorus commissioned "This Central Garden" in celebration of their 50th Anniversary.  The city of Fresno is located in the heart of the world-famous San Joaquin Valley.  This valley is the richest, most productive agricultural region in the world.  This commission was a fortuitous opportunity to bring together the poetry of Ginger (from Modesto in the San Joaquin Valley) with the musical artistry of Anna (from Fresno in the same valley!).  The title is derived from the 1894 writings of John Muir, the famous conservationist, as he wandered and explored the San Joaquin Valley at the turn of the century. He penned the following words in his book, "The Mountains of California": "When California was wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean....When I first saw this central garden....it seemed all one sheet of plant gold, hazy and vanishing in the distance...." "The time will undoubtedly come when the entire area of this noble valley will be tilled like a garden, when fertilizing waters of the mountains, now flowing to the seas, will be distributed to every acre, giving rise to prosperous towns, wealth, and the arts."

Practice Recordings Each midi-recording below provides the designated voice part played firmly on the piano while the remaining parts play quietly in the background. When playback begins - click once on the musical score. You can then scroll down to follow your part in the score. Soprano Alto Tenor Bass

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Instrumental Parts: 3 Trumpets in C (or Bb) 2 Trombones Bass Trombone Tuba Timpani Piano