Things We Have

GENERAL NOTES Rob Seible and I were meeting over breakfast as we often do to discuss some project or another. During this particular meeting, Rob mentioned that he was thinking of forming a new group with some of his singer quot;friends.quot; I was enthused because I immediately saw the great potential for this ensemble. I have known Rob since he came to work at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and have always been impressed with the eclectic range of his interests and abilities. As conductor of the HSPVA Concert Chorale and Madrigal Singers he has performed the gamut of the traditional choral repertoire, but he always expanded his programming to include a significant amount of both serious contemporary music and popular music from all eras. He also brings extensive experience working as a coach and conductor in musical theatre, most notably with Masquerade Theatre and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. I knew that his new professional group would reflect this same range of interests and I knew I wanted to be involved. It was my dream that VOX would be an ensemble of highly trained and dedicated professional singers that would explore and perform neglected works from the standard literature, premiere new works, and include in their repertoire outstanding works from musical theatre and popular standards. My wishes have been more than fulfilled. Their concerts have been remarkably varied. VOX has developed into an outstanding virtuoso ensemble capable of performing the most difficult music with apparent ease and abundant brio. It has been my great pleasure to have had the opportunity of creating much of the music for the first three seasons. This has included new works, such as A Year's Quiet Journey; adaptations, as in A Quilter Sampler; and arrangements, as in the Oldtime Train Songs. The extraordinary abilities of the singers have allowed me an unprecedented freedom to extend my own technique, knowing full well that the singers would be willing and able to realize my conceptions. For a composer, this is the greatest luxury. This CD provides, I think, a superb overview of the talents and range of these singers and will also provide a good introduction to the group for new audiences. This is a remarkable group, one destined for positive critical notice and a worldwide reputation. Enjoy! Notes on the Music The Things We Have Being of sturdy Swedish stock, I was raised in the Lutheran Church. My father always held the somewhat heretical belief that in the pantheon of the Church there was the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and J.S. Bach. I definitely inherited this belief; my admiration for old Bach borders on idolatry. So when my longtime colleague at the Moores School of Music and then musical director of the Bach Society, Robert Lynn, asked me to compose a new work for the Bach Choir I eagerly agreed, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to pay homage to Bach and the techniques of his great cantatas. In our early discussions of what the piece should be, we agreed that it might be appropriate to focus the work on some calamity. The disastrous flooding from Tropical Storm Allison was fresh in our minds and we thought that might be a workable topic. Then came the events of September 11, 2001, and we knew immediately that this would become the theme of the cantata. One of the most significant aspects of Bach's choral works is the use of well-known chorales. Accordingly, I decided that I needed a chorale tune for my cantata and I