33. Beyond (3 songs)

Whole song-cycle in one document or file:

See/Hear/Download: Score (PDF)     MIDI (57 KB)     MP3 (25 MB)     Sibelius8 (139 KB)     MusicXML (2.3 MB)

Or, obtain as separate songs:

1. Further North: Score (PDF)     MIDI (25 KB)     MP3 (11 MB)     Sibelius8 (89 KB)     MusicXML (1 MB)

2. Wild swans: Score (PDF)     MIDI (12 KB)     MP3 (8 MB)     Sibelius8 (70 KB)     MusicXML (0.7 MB)

3. Finis / Over silent waters: Score (PDF)     MIDI (15 KB)     MP3 (8.5 MB)     Sibelius8 (74 KB)     MusicXML (0.6 MB)

Musicians: SATB chorus, oboe, and piano.

Length: 4:43 + 2:50 + 3:30 = ~11 minutes.

Program notes:

These songs, with texts from three different poets, all express a universal human desire
for something more; something magical; something beyond this life.

Texts:

1. Further North (Peter Bird, 2022)

The frosty morning air is sharp as wine.
An eagle circles high above the spruce.
The tamarack are golden; green the pines.
A creek somewhere is rushing fast and loose.

It feels like morning in the elder days;
old glaciers fade away, and aspens grow.
The caribou and Dall pass through to graze;
a cabin smokes beyond the river bow.

O further North!

The noisy world will fade away behind,
and leave the aura of eternal things.
A body can grow stronger, and a mind
can harmonize the song the wild bird sings.

...

At Nordkapp in midsummer, in the gyre,
the midnight Sun projects a golden beam
a kittiwake may travel, and a tern.
We cannot leave this rock, but only yearn
to follow over ocean, air, and fire.


2. Wild swans (Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1923)

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more;
Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!


3. Finis (Over silent waters...) (Ernest E. Cummings, 1917)