Cantus

Cantus is the Latin word for song—and so this Thomas Doss piece is a meditation set to music in a vocal, melodious way. It should motivate to turn one's gaze inward, to switch off and let oneself be carried away by the music, to find an inner rest that opens up a window to the “Self.” The pictures and thoughts that are rising in this meditation can be of events, landscapes, life, or people we have close relationships with. (Source: published score)

Old American Songs

Aaron Copland arranged his second set of Old American Songs for piano and voice, drawing on American folk tunes as the source material. “The Golden Willow Tree” is an Anglo-American ballad known as “The Golden Vanity,” a melody used by English composer Benjamin Britten. “Simple Gifts” is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett. Copland used the melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring. The raucous and lively minstrel song “Ching-A-Ring Chaw” was originally arranged for mixed chorus by Irving Fine. The band arrangement by John Moss superbly captures the simple beauty of Copland’s American setting. (Source: JRO)

Cajun Folk Songs

Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians, a group of early French colonists who began settling in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) around 1604. In 1755 they were driven out by the British, eventually resettling in South Louisiana. Cajun Folk Songs was composed by Frank Ticheli as a tribute to the people of the old Cajun folksong culture. “La Belle et le Capitaine” tells the story of a young girl who feigns death to avoid being seduced by a captain. “Belle” is about a man who goes to Texas only to receive word of his sweetheart’s illness. Finding her unconscious upon his return to Louisiana, he pawns his horse to try to save her, to no avail. (Source: Composer)