FALL POPS – November 3, 2024

Program Notes

*Canadian Composer

SEASON OF CHANGE

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ – Bob Dylan (b. 1941), arr. Adam Podd
Leah Klaassen, solo

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered to be one of the greatest songwriters in history, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as The Times They Are a-Changin’ (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.

Adam Podd (and his brother Matt) have been making their mark on the music industry’s top institutions as music directors, performers, composers, and arrangers. They have worked in nearly every major performance space and concert hall in New York City with choirs, orchestras, and popular artists across all genres. 

This reimagined interpretation of the classic Bob Dylan song is a great choice for choirs looking for socially responsive music. The reharmonization and contrasting musical style bring renewed attention and poignance to these well-known words.

Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam,
and admit that the waters around you have grown,
and accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to bone.
If your time to you is worth savin’,
and you better start swimmin’, or you’ll sink like a stone,
For the times, they are a-changin’.

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
and don’t criticize what you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.
Your old road is rapidly aging.
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand.
For the times, they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast.
The slow one now will later be fast.
As the present now will later be past, the order is rapidly fading.
And the first one now will later be last,
For the times, they are a-changin’.

LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN – Gilbert Gabriel & Nick Laird-Clowes (1985), arr. B.J. Harris*
Zac Schellenberg, guitar
Paul Olfert, bass

British band THE DREAM ACADEMY hit the Top 10 charts on both sides of the Atlantic with “Life In A Northern Town” in 1985. The song reflects both the challenges and hopes of living through economic challenges and a northern climate. This choral arrangement by Saskatoon’s own BJ Harris (a founding member of STREETNIX and current Artistic Director of JOY OF VOX) comes alive in a simple and heart felt way.

The Salvation Army band played
And the children drank lemonade
And the morning lasted all day. All day.
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away. Ah

Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma! (Hey-O-Nye-Ya!)
Hey-O-ma-ma-ma! Hey-y-yah!
Life in a northern town
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma-ma!

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down too listen
He said, “In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy and The Beatles”

Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma! (Hey-O-Nye-Ya!)
Hey-O-ma-ma-ma! Hey-y-yah!
Life in a northern town
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma-ma!

Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma! (Hey-O-Nye-Ya!)
Hey-O-ma-ma-ma! Hey-y-yah!
All the work shut down.

The evening turned to rain
Watched the water roll down the drain
As we followed him down to the station
And though he never would wave goodbye
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight
Bye-bye

Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma! (Hey-O-Nye-Ya!)
Hey-O-ma-ma-ma! Hey-y-yah!
Life in a northern town
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma-ma!

Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma! (Hey-O-Nye-Ya!)
Hey-O-ma-ma-ma!Hey-y-yah!
Life in a northern town
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma-ma!

THAT LONESOME ROAD – James Taylor (b. 1948) & Don Grolnick (1947-1996), arr. Simon Carrington (b. 1942)

[Biographical Info from jamestaylor.com]
James Taylor’s music embodies the art of songwriting in its most personal and universal forms. He is a master at describing specific, even autobiographical situations, in a way that resonates with people everywhere. In 2015 Taylor was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor and in 2016 he received a Kennedy Center Honor, which are presented annually to individuals who have enriched American culture by distinguished achievement in the performing arts.

Simon Carrington was a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble the King’s Singers.

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Don’t turn your head back over your shoulder.
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees.

If I had stopped to listen once or twice
If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes
If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart
I’d not be on this road tonight.

Carry on. Never run feeling sorry for yourself.
It doesn’t save you from your troubled mind.

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Don’t turn your head back over your shoulder.
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees.

FIELDS OF GOLD – G.M. Sumner (b. 1951), arr. Roger Emerson (b. 1950)
Michelle McKinnell, solo
Todd Hanson, solo

G.M. Sumner is better well known as the singer Sting. Fields of Gold first appeared in his 1993 album “Ten Summoners Tales”. In writing the lyrics, he described the view from his 16th century Wiltshire manor house: “In England, our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it’s fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold. There’s something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal, as if the wind were making love to the barley. Lovers have made promises here, I’m sure, their bonds strengthened by the comforting cycle of the seasons.”

You’ll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley.
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold.

So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley.
In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold.

Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley?
We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold.

I never make promises lightly, and there have been some that I’ve broken,
But I swear in the days still left we’ll walk in fields of gold.

Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley.
See the children run as the sun goes down among the fields of gold.

I never make promises lightly, and there have been some that I’ve broken,
But I swear in the days still left we’ll walk in fields of gold.

I’M YOURS – Jason Mraz (b. 1977), arr. Mac Huff
Jordan Kornelson, solo
Zac Schellenberg, ukelele

Jason Thomas Mraz is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He released “I’m Yours” in 2008 to great commercial success in North America.

Well, you done done me in; you bet I felt it.
I tried to be chill, but you’re so hot that I melted.
I fell right through the cracks. Now I’m trying to get back.
Before the cool done run out, I’ll be giving it my bestest,
and nothing’s gonna stop me but divine intervention.
I reckon it’s again my turn to win some or learn some.

But I won’t hesitate, no more, no more. It cannot wait. I’m yours.

Well open up your mind and see like me.
Open up your plans and, man, you’re free!
Look into your heart and you’ll find love!
Listen to the music of the moment, people dance and sing.
We’re just one big family, and it’s our God-forsaken right to be loved!

So I won’t hesitate, no more, no more. It cannot wait. I’m sure.
There’s no need to complicate. Our time is short. This is our fate: I’m yours!

I’ve been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
and bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer.
But my breath fogged up the glass, and so drew a new face and I laughed.
I guess what I’ll be saying is there ain’t no better reason
to rid yourself of vanities, and just go with the seasons.
It’s what we aim to do. Our name is our virtue.

But I won’t hesitate, no more, no more. It cannot wait. I’m sure.
No need to complicate. Our time is short. This is our fate: I’m yours!

SEASON OF REMEMBRANCE

IN REMEMBRANCE – Eleanor Daley* (b. 1955)
POEM by CLARE HARNER (1909-1977) or MARY ELIZABETH FRYE (1905-2004)

“Do not stand at my grave and weep” is the first line and popular title of this bereavement poem of disputed authorship. This extremely famous poem has been read at countless funerals and public occasions. There are in existence many slightly different versions of the poem. Written in the 1930’s, it was re-popularized during the late 1970s thanks to a reading by actor John Wayne at a funeral. Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004), a florist from Baltimore, MD claimed to have composed this poem in 1932 in a moment of inspiration to comfort a family friend who had just lost her mother and was unable to even visit her grave. However, the poem was only first formally published in the December 1934 issue of The Gypsy poetry magazine where it was titled “Immortality”, with the author as Clare Harner (1909–1977) from Kansas. Several of Harner’s other poems were published and anthologized.

Eleanor Daley is a Canadian composer of choral and church music, a church choir director, choral clinician and accompanist. She lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Among her best-known works are The Rose Trilogy and Requiem. As a composer, Daley has been commissioned by choral groups and arts organizations throughout North America and Europe. In Canada, she composed for the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir, the Bach Children’s Chorus, the Maryland State Boychoir, the Amabile Youth Singers, Toronto Children’s Chorus, the Cantabile Singers of Kingston, the Savridi Singers, the Vancouver Men’s Chorus and the Victoria Scholars. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022, “for her contributions to Canadian music and choral culture as a renowned composer and accompanist.”

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle morning rain.

And when you wake in the morning’s hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my graven and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

AFTER THE WAR – Paul Gross* (b. 1959) & David Keeley* (b. 1961), arr. Mark Sirett* (b. 1952)

This song was featured in the 2008 film “Passchendaele”, a film that follows a World War 1 Canadian soldier at the Battle of Ypres. This choral arrangement is from 2014.

It wasn’t that long ago that Remembrance Day ceremonies centred around the phrase “Never Again!” As we get further away from the horrible memories of 20th century warfare, may we continue to remember that war destroys more than it heals, and the ultimate price is payed in the most personal way.

After the guns are silent, after your wounds have healed,
after those crosses been planted in all those fields,
after that long boat ride all the way across the sea,
and after this train carries thee;

I will love you after the war. I’ll love you for always, for evermore.
I will love you after the war. Forever. For Always. And more.

After my boots dried and the tobacco’s all but gone,
a long with the post cards I’ve carried under my arm,
after I remember all the words I couldn’t say,
and after this long night fades away;

I will love you after the war. I’ll love you for always, for evermore.
I will love you after the war. Forever. For Always. And more.

After this blackbird lifts up from off you chest,
and after your soul takes its final rest,
My love please forgive me, I never planned to die,
and love, place two pennies o’er my eyes.

I will love you after the war. I’ll love you for always, for evermore.
I will love you after the war. Forever. For Always. And more.

DANNY BOY – traditional Irish Melody (LONDONDERRY AIR), arr. Allen Bevan* (b. 1951)
LYRICS by FREDERICK E. WEATHERLY (1848-1929)

Most interpretations of Weatherly’s 1912 poem involve a parent bidding farewell to a son as he leaves home to go off to war.

[Biographical info from allanbevan.ca]
Canadian composer Allan Bevan’s choral compositions have been awarded many significant prizes in Canadian, American, and European composition competitions. He is the winner of the 2002 Ruth Watson Henderson Award for his motet Peace, and he is a three-time recipient of first prize awards in the Association of Canadian Choral Conductor’s Composition Competitions for his music for treble voices and piano (2000, 2002, and 2004.) Bevan has been commissioned by many of Canada’s finest choirs including outstanding ensembles such as Chorus Niagara, Pro Coro Canada, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the Richard Eaton Singers.

O Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
from glen to glen and down the mountain side.
The summer’s gone and all the roses falling,
it’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
or when the valley’s  hush’d and white with snow,
It’s – I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
O Danny boy, O Danny boy, I love you so.

But when ye come, and all the flow’rs are dying,
if I am dead as dead I well may be,
ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying,
and kneel and say an Ave there for me.

And I shall hear though soft you tread above me,
and all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
for you will bend and tell me that you love,
and I shall sleep until you come to me.

LULLABYE (GOOD NIGHT MY ANGEL) – Billy Joel (b. 1949), arr. Philip Lawson (b. 1957)

Billy Joel wrote this song in 1993 for his two daughters. The purposeful misspelling of “lullabye” hints to a happy/sad future similar to Robert Munsch’s “I will love you forever” book.

Goodnight, my angel, time to close your eyes, and save these questions for another day.
I think I know what you’ve been asking me. I think you know what I’ve been trying to say.
I promised I would never leave, and you should always know wherever you may go,
no matter where you are, I never will be far away.

Goodnight, my angel, now it’s time to sleep, and still so many things I want to say.
Remember all the songs you sang for me when we went sailing on an em’rald bay.
And like a boat out on the ocean, I’m rocking you to sleep.
The water’s dark and deep inside this ancient heart, you’ll always be a part of me.

Good night my angel, now it’s time to dream, and dream how wonderful you life will be.
Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullabye, 
then in your heart there will always be a part of me.

Someday we’ll all be gone but lullabyes go on and on.
They never die, that’s how you and I will be.

MLK – U2 (1984), arr. Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)
LYRICS ADAPTED FROM A SPEECH by MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (1929-1968)
Peter Hooge, solo

MLK is a song by Irish rock band U2, and is the tenth and final track on their 1984 album, “The Unforgettable Fire”. An elegy to Martin Luther King Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics. Bono conceived the melody and lyrics while listening to the drone of his vacuum cleaner.

Sleep, sleep tonight, and may your dreams be realized.
If the thunder cloud passes rain, so let it rain, rain down on him.
So let it be.

*INTERVAL (10 MINUTES)*

SEASON OF GRATITUDE

VOICES OF EARTH – Stephen Chatman* (b. 1950)
LYRICS by ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN* (1861-1899)

Canadian poet Archibald Lampman has sometimes been called the “Canadian Keats”.  His poetry typically focussed on nature and the outdoors. He penned this poem in 1895.

[Biographical Info from drstephenchatman.com]
One of Canada’s most prominent composers, Stephen Chatman, (Professor of Composition at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver since 1976), is the first Canadian ever short-listed in the BBC Masterprize international competition (2001, Tara s Dream for orchestra).

We have not heard the music of the spheres,
The song of star to star, but there are sounds
More deep than human joy and human tears,
That Nature uses in her common rounds;
The fall of streams, the cry of winds that strain
The oak, the roaring of the sea’s surge, might
Of thunder breaking afar off, or rain
That falls by minutes in the summer night.
These are the voices of earth’s secret soul,
Uttering the mystery from which she came.
To him who hears them grief beyond control,
Or joy inscrutable without a name,
Wakes in his heart thoughts bedded there, impearled,
Before the birth and making of the world.

LAUDATE DOMINUM (from “Vesperae solennes de confessore” K.339) – W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
TEXT FROM PSALM 117
Emma Gillingham, solo

Vesperae solennes de confessore” K.339 (Solemn vespers for a Confessor) was written in 1780, and was his final composition for the Salzburg Cathedral. Laudate Dominum is the 5th movement of the piece, and perhaps the most well known, often performed in isolation. The soloist begins with an invitation to praise, to which the chorus graciously responds. In a breathtaking moment of beauty, the soloist rejoins the choir at the conclusion.

[LATIN]
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, laudate eum omnes populi.
Quoniam confirmata est supernos misericordia ejus,
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.

Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto,
Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper
et in saecula lorum. AMEN

[ENGLISH]
Praise the Lord all generations, praise him all people.
For his kindness and mercy has been bestowed upon us
And the truth of the Lord endures for eternity.

Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning is now and always,
World without end. AMEN 

UBI CARITAS – Michael John Trotta (b. 1978)
Michelle McKinnell, solo

[Biographical Info from mjtrotta.com]
Fueled by a passion for combining tradition and innovation, American composer Michael John Trotta creates music that resonates with modern audiences around the world. From Carnegie Hall to cathedrals and concert halls around the world, he creates “elegant, singable music with a strong, spiritual heft” (Choir and Organ Magazine). Seasoned by his experience as a conductor at the primary, secondary, and university levels – as well as a church music director – his works are infused with an “intimate knowledge of the human voice and a rare sensitivity to the capabilities of a choral ensemble” (Fanfare). The “dynamic interplay of time-honored musical gestures with present-day sonorities” (Choral Scholar) create “tender harmonies and a palette of glowing vocal and instrumental colors” (Gramophone).

The traditional text for Ubi Caritas was usually spoken or sung at services that featured foot-washing – a practice steeped in servanthood and humble respect. If our world could learn to love and care for each other in such a humble way, how peaceful it would be.

[LATIN]
Ubi Caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congragavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero. AMEN

[ENGLISH]
Where charity and love are, God is there.
The Love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice in Him and be glad.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love as one. AMEN.

AUTUMN – Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
LYRICS by CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI (b. 1965)

Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo would feel right at home in Saskatoon. Many of his compositions reflect characteristics of northern climates and landscape. Lyricists Charles Anthony Silvestri has had numerous poems set by Eric Whitacre.

To live in Saskatchewan is to embrace winter – to come to the realization “I’m here where I belong.”

Feel the falling air,
The light becoming golden;
Trees their colours wear,
Deep and all enfolding.

The autumn leaves embracing;
But soon they all must fall,
The summer green erasing,
To answer winter’s call.

And here once again
Familiar paths I wander;
Through the westmark wend,
Living earth I ponder.

Though fading days are colder,
And soon the darkness long,
My spirit-fire grows bolder,
And in my heart a song.

Even when shadows lengthen,
I’m here where I belong.

DEEP PEACE – Elaine Hagenberg (b. 1979)
TEXT: A Gaelic Blessing

Elaine Hagenberg’s music “soars with eloquence and ingenuity” (ACDA Choral Journal). Her compositions are performed worldwide and frequently featured at American Choral Directors Association conferences, All-State festivals, Carnegie Hall, and other distinguished international concert halls throughout Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia.

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ, the light of the world to you.

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