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SELECTED WORKS: with Type = 'Voices'

Voices

To the Lands Over Yonder (1945)

Based on the melody and translated text of a Copper Inuit dance-song, To the Lands Over Yonder largely focuses on a dialogue between two main groupings: male voices and female voices in unison and octave doubling. The texture becomes more complex near the end as all voices repeat “to the lands over yonder” and break into a brief passage of four-part harmony.

Voices

Of Time, Rain, and the World (1947)

This early work for voice and piano demonstrates two important elements of Weinzweig’s style: use of the serialist technique and a rejection of formal poetry as text.

Voices

Dance of Masada (1951)

The pervasive tonal centre, triadic melodies, and modal cadences of the refrain contrast with the different tonal centres and dialogic texture between piano and voice in alternating sections.

Voices

Am Yisrael Chai! = Israel Lives (1952)

Israel Lives! includes full, expansive textures and a rhythmic vitality that is characteristic of Weinzweig’s music.

Voices

Trialogue (1971)

Trialogue for soprano, flute, and piano demonstrates theatricality not only in its use of extended technique but also instructions for movement around the stage and interactions between performers. The fifteen short “events” are varied in their drama and humour, as the soprano sings, whispers, mutters, and even strums the piano strings. The pianist creates clusters with a fist or forearm and both instruments explore their percussive capabilities. The “events” may be performed in any order, excepting the last one, “Sh,” whose exiting instructions necessitate its ultimate position.

Voices

Private Collection (1975)

Private Collection is an open set of songs for soprano voice and piano with lyrics and music by the composer. [..] They are about anything: an experience, an observation or a fleeting impression. Since they are a collection of individual songs, the singer may select any one or more for presentation.”

Voices

Hockey Night in Canada: A Game in 3 Periods (1985)

Hockey Night in Canada is a difficult and energetic work that seeks to evoke the three-period game in a short three and a half minutes. The choir sings in mostly block rhythms, with an emphasis on terms and phrases routinely used by game commentators (e.g., “high shot,” “slap shot” and “there goes the whistle”).

Voices

Lonesome Satellite (1985)

The work cycles three times through three main textures: first, the eight-part choir creates a musical dialogue by alternating women’s and men’s voices; second, the choir sings all together, with a textless solo soprano above; third, the men sing slow, sombre statements of the phrase “all alone.”

Voices

Prisoner of Conscience (1985)

Weinzweig explains that Prisoner of Conscience is “dedicated to Amnesty International which alerts the world to those citizens in many countries who have been taken away in the night and held incommunicado in solitary confinement without charge or trial.” It centres on a single ten-part cluster chor; the power of the text, which declares “there is no way out,” is emphasised with dramatic dynamic changes.

Voices

Shoppin' Blues (1985)

According to Weinzweig, Shoppin’ Blues “describes the course of a carefree shopping trip that turns into a frenetic experience under pressure of persuasive inducements.” Following separate entrances from each section, the choir sings mostly in block rhythms to emphasise the shopping endeavours: “lookin’ everywhere, down street, Bay Street... .”

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