Vespers uses Renaissance instruments; The Waking Sun and The Nobility of Women, Baroque. Some people have asked how do I do it, and why. We composers rarely ask ourselves “why” questions, but fair enough.…
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Tag Archives: Vespers
On BBC 3
“Veni Sancte Spiritus,” the first section from my Vespers, showed up on The Early Music Show April 21st on BBC Radio 3. Lucie Skeaping profiled Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, and among Weelkes, Finck, and Susato, there I am, with Joan, Bob, and The Crossing. Thanks, BBC, thanks, Piffaro!
Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn, at Rutgers
Listen to Rutgers University’s excellent Kirkpatrick Choir in my setting of “Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn” from Vespers, conducted by Daniel Spratlan April 28th. The text and my translation are here, along with a video of a performance by the Virginia Chorale from two years ago. It’s interesting for me to compare two fine performances, by choirs of different sizes.
Dan is such a sensitive conductor and knows Vespers inside-out, having sung every performance of it with The Crossing from his customary spot over in second bass country. I’m grateful not only for his consideration of this hymn setting, but also for his further commitment to make the entire Vespers the subject of his doctoral dissertation.
New video of Vespers
Piffaro uploaded this to YouTube, with images mostly from the NYC concert, and audio excerpts:
Like this:
The Nobility of Women, Chestnut Hill Local
Referring to Vespers and saying that I have made a name from “composing new music for older instruments,” Michael Caruso in the Chestnut Hill Local calls The Nobility of Women “concisely pointed character sketches of baroque dances.”
I can’t deny that I’ve become known as someone who can write for historical instruments. Mélomanie approached me about a piece for them—which became Nobility—after they heard Vespers. The Crossing and the Baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare talked to me about The Waking Sun after Vespers.
People sometimes ask me if I mind. I suppose McLean Stevenson was asked if he minded being Lt. Col. Henry Blake on M*A*S*H. I don’t mind. I love it. If people think that’s what I do, fine, as I love writing for all kinds of instruments, and love the challenge of releasing the gorgeous sounds of recorders, dulcians, gambas, or what have you.
But I don’t think of myself that way. I’ve composed choral music, lots of orchestral works, and songs and chamber music for decades. I’m working on many different projects now, none of which use “early” instruments. If I go back to it, I’d be delighted, though.
Caruso had nice things to say, including that “Melomanie gave The Nobility of Women a sterling reading.”
The Crossing sings my music on the radio
Live performances of Vespers, The Waking Sun, and Where Flames a Word will be on the radio this weekend:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
3:00 – 5:00 PM
WRTI – 90.1FM, Philadelphia
and online anywhere: www.wrti.org
From The Crossing: “Vespers, the work that brought Kile Smith into our lives and hearts, recorded live in concert at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill on Sunday January 8th, 2012 in a joyful collaboration with Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, will be the first broadcast in a series of live Crossing concerts on WRTI, 90.1FM, Philadelphia.
The remainder of the program will include two pieces The Crossing commissioned from Kile, 2009′s Where flames a word, for our Celan Project, and 2011′s The Waking Sun for our Seneca Sounds Project.”
Donald and I will briefly discuss the music. But it’s mostly the music.
Vespers in the Chestnut Hill Local
In “Masterpiece brings packed house Sunday to Hill church,” Michael Caruso called the 2008 premiere of Vespers “a masterpiece of composition within the context of religious devotion,” singling out as “most impressive” my “commitment to the powerful traditions of German Lutheran piety as expressed in music.”
He then says about Sunday’s (Jan. 8th) performance, that the “marvel of Smith’s music is found in its ability to sound both old and new at one and the same time. The timbres of Piffaro’s Renaissance instruments and the straight-tone singing of The Crossing recall the music of centuries ago, as does Smith’s sophisticated use of contrapuntal techniques.”
Caruso rightly praises Donald Nally, who “elicited flawless singing and exuberant playing from his musicians.”
