The Music of MORTEN LAURIDSEN published by Peermusic Classical
The Music of
MORTEN
LAURIDSEN
New Release!
Where Have the Actors Gone Arranged for SATB Chorus and Piano
by Ian Freebairn-Smith
Peermusic 62321-122 • $1.95 Add to Cart
Composer Morten Lauridsen is most noted for his seven vocal cycles — Les Chansons des Roses, Madrigali, Mid-Winter Songs, Cuatro Canciones, A Winter Come, Nocturnes, and Lux Aeterna — and his series of a cappella motets which are regularly performed by distinguished ensembles and vocal artists throughout the world. His O Magnum Mysterium and Dirait-on have become two of the most performed and recorded compositions of recent years. The Nocturnes have been recorded by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton, with the composer at the piano, on Lauridsen – Nocturnes (Hyperion). Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001. In 2007, Lauridsen was awarded the National Medal of Arts for his “radiant choral works combining musical power, beauty and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide.”
"My esteem for the great Broadway songwriters has only deepened over the years. Their enduring, rich legacy of quintessentially American music has certainly influenced my music during my entire career, especially in the creation of what I hope to have been elegant and gracious lines for those singing my works.
"'Where Have The Actors Gone' is my contribution to this genre of theater/cabaret songs, first introduced by jazz vocalist Sunny Wilkinson at the Improv Theater in Los Angeles and later recorded by Sunny with keyboard artist Shelly Berg on "Lauridsen – Northwest Journey" (RCM 12001). The story tells of the end of a love relationship through an allegorical tale of actors bringing their play to a close and parting ways.
I asked my good friend, Grammy recipient and veteran studio singer Ian Freebairn-Smith, widely known for his many brilliant vocal arrangements, sound tracks and original compositions, to arrange "Actors" in two versions, one with my original piano accompaniment intact and the second a more expanded version for a cappella jazz choir. His deft, beautifully-crafted renditions now make this song available to choruses as well."
— Morten Lauridsen
Distinguished Professor of Composition, USC Thornton School of Music
Composer-in-Residence, Los Angeles Master Chorale, 1995-2001
Recipient, 2007 National Medal of Arts
New Release!
Epilogue (voici le soir) for SATB chorus and Piano
Words by Rainer Maria Rilke
Peermusic Classical 62330-122 • $1.60 Add to Cart
According to the composer, Voici le soir is designed as an epilogue to his well-known choral cycle Nocturnes, and should be performed only when the entire cycle is programmed, as an extension to Sure On This Shining Night. In its entirety, Lauridsen’s Nocturnes cycle recalls the opening motives of Sa Nuit d’Été, and was premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Grant Gershon at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on May 4, 2008. The words of poet Rainer Maria Rilke are set against rich, jazz-tinged modal harmonies and bell sounds in the Nocturnes, and this Epilogue finally completes the cycle with a dark, haunting finish. For high school or university choirs. Duration: 2’
Morten Lauridsen's choral works defy easy description. At first glance, many considered them to be high-end concert chorale music, out of reach of most choirs. Yet, with the wildfire word-of-mouth campaign that began with the release of his Les Chansons des Roses, many choruses found that they were approachable, that they were beautiful, and that they should become standards.
It was the final movement of Les Chansons des Roses, Dirait-on, that brought Lauridsen to the attention of millions. This simple and simply delightful melody for chorus and piano accompaniment was immediately embraced and welcomed into the repertoire of any number of choirs.
With this exposure generating much interest, Lauridsen's previous choral cycles, the Madrigali and Mid-Winter Songs, were rediscovered and often performed. But it was his next release that would seal his status as choral music composer.
O Magnum Mysterium was the most eagerly-anticipated release in Presser's recent history. A certified best-seller on the day it was released (and still the number one best-seller in Presser's choral catalog), Lauridsen's new a cappella choral was also included in the 1999 CD recording by Paul Salamunovic and the Los Angeles Chorale, LUX AETERNA, which garnered a Grammy nomination in that year. This recording was also the first glimpse that many of us had at Lauridsen's new extended work of the same title. And from Lux Aeterna came its excerpted central movement, the "eerily beautiful" O Nata Lux. This last was immediately chosen as a required All-State competition piece in Nebraska, and has enjoyed Top-Ten status ever since.
Lauridsen's interwoven vocal lines has proved to be equally at home in the winds and brasses.
Famed band conductor H. Robert Reynolds transcribed O Magnum Mysterium for concert band in 2003, with its first real exposure at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic that December. Within days, hundreds of band directors were ordering their own copies, and O Magnum Mysterium is today far and away our best-seller in the band category!
Contre Qui, Rose will prove to be just as attractive. Its quiet opening builds slowly, exploring its thematic material, increasing in dynamics and complexity, before disappearing in a quiet, meditative whisper. As always happens with Lauridsen's music, we only wish it would never end...
For more information on Morten Lauridsen and his works, see the Peermusic Classical website.
Peermusic Classical is distributed worldwide* by Theodore Presser Company * Except Europe; some restrictions on Lauridsen's choral works may apply in the U.K., Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Africa.
The Published Choral Works of MORTEN LAURIDSEN
Ave Dulcissima Maria
TTBB a cap.
62127-119
$2.25
Ave Maria
SATB a cap.
61919-121
$1.70
Les Chansons des Roses on poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
En une seule fleur
SATB a cap.
61842-121
$1.70
Contre qui, rose
SATB a cap.
61843-121
$1.60
De ton rêve trop plein
SATB a cap.
61844-121
$1.70
La rose complête
SATB a cap.
61845-121
$1.70
Dirait-on
SATB, Pno.
61846-122
$1.70
SA, Pno.
61922-106
$1.70
TTBB, Pno.
61880-120
$1.40
Chanson Éloignée
SATB a cap.
62204-121
$2.50
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
SATB a cap.
62180-121
$1.60
Lux Aeterna
Piano/Vocal Score
61911-122
$7.95
Organ/Vocal Score
61914-122
$22.95
Full Score
61925-186
$30.00
O Nata Lux (excerpt)
SATB a cap.
61908-121
$1.70
Madrigali: Six Fire Songs on Italian Renaissance Poems
Ov'è lass', il bel viso?
SATB a cap.
61649-121
$1.70
Quando son più lontan
SATB a cap.
61650-121
$1.70
Amor, io sento l'alma
SATB a cap.
61651-121
$1.60
Io piango
SATB a cap.
61646-121
$1.60
Luci serene e chiare
SATB a cap.
61652-121
$1.25
Se per havervi, oime
SATB a cap.
61653-121
$1.60
Nocturnes
Sa Nuit d'Ète (Rilke text)
SATB, Pno.
62126-122
$1.90
Soneto de la Noche (Neruda text)
SATB a cap.
62129-121
$2.25
Sure on This Shining Night (Agee text)
SATB, Pno.
62128-122
$1.90
Epilogue (Voici le soir)
SATB, Pno.
62330-122
$1.60
O Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord
SATB, Pno.
62181-122
$2.50
O Magnum Mysterium
SATB a cap.
61860-121
$1.75
TTBB a cap.
62016-120
$1.70
O Nata Lux (from Lux Aeterna)
SATB a cap.
61908-121
$1.70
Ubi Caritas et Amor
SATB a cap.
62023-121
$2.50
Where Have the Actors Gone NEW
SATB, Pno.
62321-122
$1.95
LAURIDSEN for Concert Band and String Orchestra
O Magnum Mysterium
Contre qui, Rose
O Magnum Mysterium
Lauridsen's signature choral masterpiece, featured on dozens of recordings...
Now transcribed by H. Robert Reynolds
for Concert Band!
Complete Set - 62094-804, $85.00
Full Score - 62095-801, $9.95
from Lauridsen's highly
acclaimed choral cycle, Les Chansons des Roses
Now transcribed by H. Robert Reynolds
for Concert Band!
