Composer | Charles McCreery |
---|---|
Difficulty | Elementary |
Format | vocal score |
Publisher | St. Maur Music |
Instruments | voices and piano |
'For those who only know Tolkien via the recent blood-and-thunder films, this song-cycle by Charles McCreery will give a very different angle on the classic saga. Here we find a gentle and ethereal world, where rhythms lilt and words echo. The twelve songs, suitable for choir, evoke a dreamy, water-colour landscape with no harsh sounds, the tunes are singable and in a traditional style that Tolkien would surely have approved. The opening song, "The Fall of Gil-Galad", is calm, unruffled and dreamy; the "Riddle Song" has an Elizabethan lilt to it, while the following "Bilbo's Song" has bold modulations and is just right for the words. "Elven Hymn" has a solid, rich quality - it is perhaps the best in the cycle. Number Ten, "Ent's Marching Song", is written in 6/8. This would have pleased Schumann who once wrote a march in 3/4! It is a catchy and enjoyable tune. Galadriel's "Song of Eldamar" brings back some of the motifs from earlier songs and rounds off the cycle.' - Dr Julia Gasper, LGSM
72 pages of music; vocal score (voice parts with piano accompaniment). Illustrated with an original watercolour, and ten colour photographs.
Sample pages of three of the songs, together with four of the ten colour photographs, can be seen at the following address (please left click on each picture to enlarge it):http://www.myspace.com/charlesmccreery/photos/albums/album/2639488#mssrc=SitesPhotos_SP_AlbumCover_ViewAlbum
Orchestral arrangements of four of the songs can be heard at:http://www.youtube.com/user/stmaurmusic?feature=guide
The songs are tuneful and not technically demanding, so can be used with choirs of all ages and abilities. In a number of the songs the tune is incorporated into the piano accompaniment for all or part of the song, so they can be used as solo piano pieces for those with a particular interest in Tolkien. They also provide scope for a child learning the piano to accompany a choir.
The songs would be useful for anyone learning a woodwind intrument, such as the flute or recorder. Numbers 2,5,6,10, and the Envoi (see Contents, below) have sections which are in three-part harmony in the treble clef, so would sound well played by a group of clarinets, for example, or a choir of recorders.
Charles McCreery is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and an associate member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. An article about Charles McCreery and his music can be read here:http://nationalchildrensentertainment.blogspot.com/2010/10/charles-mccreery-creating-classical.html
Contents:
Prologue: 'Farewell we call to hearth and hall'
1.The Fall of Gil-galad ('Gil-galad was an Elven-king...')
2. Beren's Song of Parting ('Farewell sweet earth and northern sky...')
3. The Riddle Song ('Seek for the Sword that was broken...')
4. Bilbo's Song ('I sit beside the fire and think...')
5. Elven Hymn to Elbereth Gilthoniel ('Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!...')
6. Bilbo's Song in 'The Hobbit' ('Roads go ever on and on...')
7. Gandalf's Song of Lórien ('In Dwimordene, in Lórien...')
8. Sam's Song in the Orc-Tower ('In western lands beneath the Sun...')
9. The Ent and the Ent-wife ('When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf...')
10. The Ents' Marching Song ('We come, we come with roll of drum...')
11. Bregalad's Lament for the Rowans ('O Orofarnë, Lassemista, Carnemirië...')
12. Galadriel's Song of Eldamar ('I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold...')
Envoi: The Old Walking Song ('The Road goes ever on and on...')
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