The Music of MORTEN LAURIDSEN published by Peermusic
National Medal of Arts 2008
(National Endowment for the Arts)
The Music of
MORTEN
LAURIDSEN
JUST PUBLISHED!
Chanson Éloignée (Distant Song) for SATB chorus a cappella
Fans of Morten Lauridsen, exult! This new 6-minute stunner premiered in October 2006, and is now available for your choir. See a 2-page spread .
Peermusic Classical 62204-121 • $2.50 Add to Cart
About CHANSON ÉLOIGNÉE
When Maestro Alexander and his magnificent Pacific Chorale, who have championed my works over the years, asked if I would compose an a cappella piece in celebration of music for their inaugural concert in the new Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, I once again turned to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. While known principally for his German poems, including the astonishing Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, Rilke also composed over 400 French poems, most written in the Swiss village of Muzot during the last two years of his life, from 1924-1926. I previously chose five of these poems for my choral cycle Les Chansons des Roses, and also included his poem, Sa Nuit d'Été, as the first of my recent Nocturnes. Rilke's stunningly beautiful texts for Chanson Éloignée will resonate deeply with all singers everywhere – the yearning of a heart for song and for love, and what it means to be given the gift of singing.
— Morten Lauridsen
Lauridsen's potent Chanson Éloignée continues that composer's long series of soul-searching
works that thrill the ear and touch the heart. It will resonate in many places for a long time.
— Daniel Cariaga’s Los Angeles Times review of the premiere performance
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!
Complete Set - 62172-804, $80.00
Full Score - 62173-801, $9.95
Lauridsen's signature choral masterpiece, featured on dozens of recordings...
Now transcribed by Sandra Dackow
for String Orchestra!
Complete Set - 62187-769, $75.00
Full Score - 62186-766, $9.95
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
Buy -
TTBB a cap.
62127-119
$2.25
Ave Maria
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61919-121
$1.60
Les Chansons des Roses
on poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
En une seule fleur
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61842-121
$1.70
Contre qui, rose
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61843-121
$1.60
De ton rêve trop plein
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61844-121
$1.70
La rose complête
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61845-121
$1.70
Dirait-on
Buy -
SATB, Pno.
61846-122
$1.70
Buy -
SA, Pno.
61922-106
$1.70
Buy -
TTBB, Pno.
61880-120
$1.40
Chanson Éloignée (NEW!)
Buy -
SATB a cap.
62204-121
$2.50
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Buy -
SATB a cap.
62180-121
$1.60
Lux Aeterna
Buy -
Piano/Vocal Score
61911-122
$7.95
Buy -
Organ/Vocal Score
61914-122
$22.95
Buy -
Full Score
61925-186
$30.00
O Nata Lux (excerpt)
Buy -
SATB a cap.
61908-121
$1.70
Madrigali: Six Fire Songs on
Italian Renaissance Poems
