Music Review
"Top Two!"

DWCrouch, 7 June 2000

The Awakening - Joseph M. Martin

TTBB Shawnee Press C 0286 (1995) $1.50

Positive:
--great text (especially for the topic of music)
--many contrasting sections (looks hard, but really isn't)
--individual parts are challenging, yet very singable
--change of meter and key make it very interesting for singer and audience
--great ending
--measures 76 to 86 are the most interesting parts I have seen for men's voices: energetic, fun, and musically the most astounding effect created in just 10 measures
--great contrasts of four parts, unisons, single sections -- a bit of everything
--dramatic
--haunting
--great dynamic variations
--accompaniment is fantastic (not always helpful to the singer)

Negative:
--accompaniment is very difficult
--a bit long, but worth every measure
--if you memorize, this will be dificult; but you will find that once you get to know the individual sections, they begin to flow easily from section to section (it also helps when you get to know the accompaniment better--you know what is coming next)
--a few spots leave parts hanging out without much help from other voices or the piano
--pitch can be a problem in some of the unison parts at the beginning because they are in the lower tessitura
--the conductor had better be able to conduct multi-meter changes easily and quickly

Comment: This is one of the best, if not thee best, song I have performed with my chorus since I became their director. It is an absolutely magnificent, contemporary piece for male voices. We have sung it in many different settings, and it fits into all of them. And, Joseph Martin has others which are maybe not quite up to this standard, but very close. (Think "Toccata of Praise.") His writing for male voices right now is probably one of the best in the country.

I Will Rejoice (Ich will den Herrn loben) - Based on a canon by Georg Philipp Telemann, edited and arranged by Dave and Jean Perry

Three Part TTB BriLee Music BL176 (1998) $1.25

Positive:
--great melody line: rhythmic, moving, contrasting, within medium vocal range
--text is great for any situation: "I will sing songs of peace and joy"
--sing in either English or German (great beginning for a language study--three short German phrases)
--canon (round) form: melodies all the same until you get to the ending
--can be accompanied or a cappella (I've used it both ways)
--nice dynamic contrasts
--builds to a big ending

Negative:
--this song will go through you head and drive you crazy (especially at 3:00 A.M.)
--equal parts until the end, then you need to decide who sings which line
--it looks like it has a tenor and a bass line -- it doesn't: these are really the same; sing either one (parts III and IV)

Comment: This is really so simple, yet sounds anything but that. Use it as something to learn quickly, right away when you resume rehearsals in the fall. You would be able to perform it at the end of the rehearsal.

DWCrouch, June 2001

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Since 8 Jun 2001