Commissioned to honor a marriage celebration, this text by the early 20th-century poet, Amy Lowell, speaks to love and commitment. But the title is enigmatic (no sprigs of resemary are mentioned in the poem itself) until one discovers that in addition to its well-known properties as a plant and herb, Rosemary is a traditional symbol of remembrance and constancy; so the author made a knowing and perfect choice for the title. In setting this text, the composer creates a harmonic richness which would complement and reflect the soft richness of Lowell's words of recalling and caring. Duration: ca. 2:40

Composer: Jeffrey Van

Written as a companion piece to the 40 voice Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis Spem in Alium, this music is spatial and conceived with reverberant acoustics in mind. Each of the three choirs is made up of different voicings including a women's choir, a men's choir and an SATB choir. The soprano solo is Hildegard the mystic praying.

Composer: Nancy Wertsch

Beginning with a sound-scape where the choir creates the sound of waves and wind, this is a piece for the most adventerous choirs. Once the mood is established, a single tenor voice begins the poem, followed by a few sopranos. This grows into a full eight part choir singing forte fades into dust. The texture quickly fades into a reprise of the opening sound-scape with the tenor soloist over the top.

Composer: Matthew Lyon Hazzard

The Ave Maria has been sung, chanted and prayed in churches, cathedrals and cloisters since before the Middle Ages. This setting, which includes quotations from the plainsong chant, depicts the voicing of individual intentions that echo through cathedrals, minds and hearts. Duration: Approx. 4:10. Recorded by the Dale Warland Singers, Concert recording (p) 2002 Minnesota Public Radio. Used with permission of Minnesota Public Radio and the University of Cincinnati.

Composer: Cary Boyce | Performed By: Dale Warland Singers

This text by the Wedderburns is best known from Benjamin Britten's timeless A Ceremony of Carols. This setting serves as a manger lullaby, with the soprano soloist representing Mary.

Composer: Matthew Culloton

These three choral vignettes are inspired by the whimsical poetry of Emily Dickinson. All three pieces require a free play of fancy and imagination. Using extended, aleatoric passages, non-metrical and free harmonic writing, directors and singers are given a pallet to create a piece that will be new every time it is performed.

Composer: Lee Kesselman

The atmospheric mood of this work set to a text by Robert Herrick is intended to suggest a brief moment between wakefulness and sleep as one drifts off to another realm. Without rushing or overstating, choirs will savor each progression toward the final lingering chords.

Composer: Robert Sieving

With homage to Bruckner and Messiaen, the gentle phrases and rich harmonies of this contemporary Latin setting will resonate throughout your performance space. Sleep, Jesus. Thy mother smiles when she sees such gentle slumber. Sleep Jesus, gently. Duration: ca. 4:40.

Composer: Abbie Betinis

An elegant setting of a poem by Robert Bly, this work evokes the image of water in all its forms through vocal word-painting. Recorded by the Dale Warland Singers, Dale Warland, Conductor, courtesy Minnesota Public Radio. Performance Time: Approx. 6:00

Composer: Steve Heitzeg | Performed By: Dale Warland Singers

This beautiful piece by Tobin Stokes is loosely based on the five stages of grieving by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. The first section of the music, set for 6-part treble choir on the text Hear my prayer, Oh Lord, is polyphonic at a subdued dynamic level. The second phrase of the verse, and let my crying come unto thee, is homophonic and builds to a full climax before diminishing to a very soft and passionate ending.

Composer: Tobin Stokes

This favorite Shaker song from the mid-1800s in an invigorating arrangement by Kevin Siegfried is a wonderful concert opener or sacred anthem with themes of love, peace and personal righteousness.

Composer: Kevin Siegfried

The sensation of a young child, laying on their back and watching the snow gently fall is captured beautifully in this new piece by Dale Trumbore. Commissioned by Robert Bode and Choral Arts Northwest, this is a wonderfully sensitive and delicate composition for advanced choir.

Composer: Dale Trumbore

Belgian composer Rudi Tas has created this haunting setting of the ancient Miserere text. The solo cello rises out of the vocal cluster and the music gradually becomes more intense as the voices plead for mercy. Finally, it ends as it began, with a haunting vocal cluster giving way to the solo cello on a high E. With cello. Duration: Approx. 8:10. Recorded by the Dale Warland Singers. Concert recording (p) 2003 Minnesota Public Radio. Used with permission of Minnesota Public Radio and the University of Cincinnati.

Composer: Rudi Tas | Performed By: Dale Warland Singers

This work is dedicated to the memory of the legendary choral director Paul Salamunovich and his favorite musical genre of Gregorian chant. The composer has written an original chant in the Gregorian style with undulating musical phrases shaped in the ancient style but with contemporary harmonic structures, creating both a familiar and yet unsettling new requiem.

Composer: Matthew Culloton

Eric William Barnum is a fresh voice among composers. This expressive and lightly dissonant work for mixed chorus and semi chorus takes its text from a poem by Oscar Wilde. Duration: Approx. 6:00

Composer: Eric William Barnum

The Gift was created with the long, warm reverberation of a cathedral in mind. This requires the composer to create spaces within the music which leave room for echoing resonance. Dreamlike and impressionistic in character, the work features flowing lines and chords that roll in and out, rising and falling like waves. The text is anonymous 16th century Latin. Duration: ca. 5:15.

Composer: J.A.C. Redford

This beloved benediction from Numbers 6:24-26 is offered in an artful and accessible setting with expressive phrases and a fresh contemporary harmonization that will enhance the close of any concert or worship service. Duration: ca. 1:30.

Composer: Martha Sullivan

Written for the Clarion Chamber Chorale of Omaha, Nebraska, this Gerard Manley Hopkins poem Spring and Fall is full of beautiful, figurative and profound language. It speaks to the human condition in a compact way. And although the subject is complex, the message is simple and requires similar simplicity in performance with freedom and rubato in this powerful and inspirational composition.

Composer: Dale Warland

Written for the Clarion Chamber Chorale of Omaha, Nebraska, this Gerard Manley Hopkins poem Spring and Fall is full of beautiful, figurative and profound language. It speaks to the human condition in a compact way. And although the subject is complex, the message is simple and requires similar simplicity in performance with freedom and rubato in this powerful and inspirational composition.

Arranger: Dale Warland | Composer: Dale Warland

Setting the Wendell Berry To My Mother but incorporating it for his parents, Joshua Shank portrays the sense of wandering and confusion in the early sections of his music but ultimately finds the revelation of true, unconditional love. Commissioned by Matthew Culloton and The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists, and chosen by Dale Warland for his G.Schirmer series, this is a work worthy of the finest choirs.

Composer: Joshua Shank | Performed By: Dale Warland Singers

Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) produced works in virtually every genre, primarily religious in nature. His Ave Maria is a short unaccompanied work for women's voices that displays his interest in plainchant and medievally-influenced modal writing. Dale Warland's Benedictus complements the Pinkham nicely for an excellent showcase for women's chorus in high school and up.

Composer: Dale Warland

Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) produced works in virtually every genre, primarily religious in nature. His Ave Maria is a short unaccompanied work for women's voices that displays his interest in plainchant and medievally-influenced modal writing. Dale Warland's Benedictus complements the Pinkham nicely for an excellent showcase for women's chorus in high school and up.

Arranger: Dale Warland | Composer: Dale Warland

This beautiful Latin text describes the journey of the Magi as they follow the star to Bethlehem. Composer Robert Sieving depicts this journey musically as he builds from mystical wonder to a fanfare of rejoicing.

Composer: Robert Sieving

Rich choral textures interweave in this evocative setting of the traditional Irish carol for mixed choir and flute. Flute part included. Performance Time: Approx. 4:00 Recorded by the Dale Warland Singers on Gothic Records. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. www.gothicrecords.com

Arranger: Dale Warland | Performed By: Dale Warland Singers

The words and music of Without You reflect how grief and disbelief well up in us when we lose someone we love. Here, repetitive, lulling swells reflect the sometimes manageable and often overwhelming emotions we move through as we process this loss.

Composer: Dale Trumbore