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I love the internet!! I never know what I might find in my
"in-box" each morning...
I lost contact with Tim Spencer (below) after his first
contact to me. His email might have changed? |
Tim Spencer, Director of the Borealis Chamber
Choir, is front and center!
(Click to enlarge)
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At 9:45 AM on 5/27/2003, Tim Spencer wrote;
From: Tim Spencer Hi Brad Nelson, Just thought I'd let you know that our new chamber choir, Borealis, will be performing your piece, Alleluia, on Thursday evening in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada, as part of our first full concert. I've always loved the Vaughn-Williams organ prelude and was actually doing a Google search to find a recording, when I stumbled on your arrangement. As you say, it's an opportunity for singers to enjoy a piece that they would normally not be able to participate in. No one in our group was familiar with the music but when I handed it out and we did a quick read through, it immediately clicked. Coincidentaly, a couple of years ago one of the local elementary schools in this northern mining town, found an old string bass in the basement and one of our choir members bought it for $50 and has taken up the instrument (it's probably the only bass in 100 miles) - so we're even including the optional bass accompaniment. Our spring concert is called "Now is the Month of Maying" (we were going to call it "Sacred and Profane" but it was felt that some of the elders in the local Lutheran church might not be ready for anything profane being performed there). We're, of course, doing the Morley piece of the same name as well as madrigals by Dowland, Bennet, Farmer, and Gibbons. Some of our sacred pieces include: Ave Verum Corpus of Byrd, Tantum Ergo of Severac, Rise Up My Love of Willan and a simple setting of Crux Fidelis we discovered at http://www.pthill.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm - 20 works in all. Isn't the Internet great for choral music? We don't have much of a bank account, yet, so quite a bit of our repertoire came from www.cpdl.org and other public domain sites. Best regards from the north,
Tim Spencer
At 10:46 AM on 5/27/2003, I replied; Hi Tim, How thoughtful of you contact me and convey the activities of your choir, Borealis....what a beautiful name for a choir! The organist at the large church where I once directed used to play "Rhosymedre" frequently, often at my request. I eventually acquired the Arnold Foster orchestration of it and conducted it with a string orchestra. My wife and I were listening to a CD of the string orchestration while traveling, and we both felt it would be wonderful to transcribe it for choir. I developed a Latin text to impart the spirit of the musical lines that Vaughan Williams weaves. I then had to wait a couple of years for it to become public domain in the US, but still had to get permission in England where the copyright duration is longer than the US. So, it was a long road to get it into print. The string bass is my "tribute" to the string orchestration that I grew to love. I assume you've already looked on my website at http://www.gladdemusic.com/alleluia.htm - more information and recordings if you're interested. I'm in wonderful company alongside the other composers in your program. I'm not familiar with your community, but it sounds as if you are giving them a beautiful gift of music! Please give your singers my best wishes and thanks. I'd be thrilled to have you consider other works of mine.... everything's on my website. I'd love to receive a program!
Brad Nelson |
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In recent days... also because of the internet and Facebook... I had
another wonderful exchange with Crystal Kolt.
Read here
about the remarkable contributions she makes to the cultural life of
the "Flin Flonites", |
Crystal Kolt, Cultural Coordinator
Flin
Flon Arts Council
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On 5/1/2016, Crystal Kolt wrote; Brad... for some reason I can't seem to open the "Far Flung Flin Flon" link... I'll try again tomorrow. Am curious.
Brad Nelson replied;
Crystal replied;
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Feedback gladly anticipated at - musings@gladdemusic.com |
