Marvin Mills and Marlissa Hudson presented a fantastic and varied concert of music for organ, piano, soprano, and cello on 2 March 2014.  Here are some clips from the concert.

Adagio and Fugue in c, K. 564

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
transcribed by Jean Guillou

Marvin Mills, organ

Vorrei spiegarvi, o Dio, K. 418

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)

Marlissa Hudson, soprano and Marvin Mills, organ

Written for Mozart’s sister-in-law Aloysia Weber, Vorrei spiegarvi o Dio was one of several interpolated arias for a performance of Pasquale Anfossi’s opera Il curioso indiscreto. The practice of inserting a “showpiece” was common from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, allowing a singer to show their wares to greatest effect.

Clorinda:
Oh God! If only I could tell him how I feel, but fate condemns me to weep and suffer in silence. I must be cold toward the one I love.

Ah Sir! Leave me, run far from me. Your beloved Emilia waits for you, let her not languish. Ah, the stars are against me! Do not talk to me of love or what is in your heart.

Triptico del Buen Pastor (1953)

El Rebano – La Oveja Perdida – El Buen Pastor

Jesús Guridi
(1886-1961)

Jesús Guridi (Bidaola) was born into a family of musicians: composers, pianists, organists, and a violinist, leading back to his great-grandfather. Nutured in his native Spain, he attended the Schola Cantorum in Paris and then went on to study with Joseph Jongen, noted Belgium organist/composer. Guridi was organist of the Basilica del Señor Santiago in Bilbao, conductor of the Bildao Choral Society, and professor of organ and harmony at the conservatories of Biscay and Madrid. His operas were quite successful, and his orchestrations have been compared with Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, and Stravinsky.

The Triptych of the Good Shepherd (1953) is Guridi’s musical depiction of the parable of the lost sheep. (Luke 15:3-6 — So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to then, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’) Recipient of a first prize in a Festival of Spanish Organ Music held at The Church of the Good Shepherd in San Sebastian, the work draws from the folk music of the Basque people.

The Flock – A pastoral scene is set. The movement ends with the shepherd’s song, accompanied by the tinkling of sheep’s bells.

The Lost Sheep – A storm erupts, building to a ferocious climax. Once the weather clears we hear the bleating of the scattered flock, which soon reunites with the shepherd.

The Good Shepherd – Quiet chords precede an extended melody (the shepherd’s steadfast nature), which eventually is interspersed with stately fanfares (the joy of unity). The sheep bells and a fragment of the shepherd’s song return fortissimo, to bring the work to a joyous conclusion.

Litany

Ricky Ian Gordon
(b. 1956)

After studying piano, composition and acting, at Carnegie Mellon University, Ricky Ian Gordon settled in New York City, quickly emerging as leading composer of his generation and a gifted writer for the voice. His songs have been performed/recorded by many of America’s leading artists. His operas and musicals have been well received and highly praised.

As a teacher Mr. Gordon has taught both Master Classes and Composition Classes in Colleges and Universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Catholic, Bennington, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Elon, Michigan State, U of Michigan, Point Park (McGinnis Distinguished Lecturer) Texas Lutheran University, and San Francisco Conservatory. He has been the featured Composer-in Residence at various festivals including Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Songfest at Pepperdine University, Chautauqua, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia.

Among his honors are an OBIE Award, the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie-Mellon University, A Shen Family Foundation Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, The Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, The Constance Klinsky Award, and many awards from ASCAP, of which he is a member, The National Endowment of the Arts, and The American Music Center.

PRAYER (Litany)

Gather up
In the arms of your pity
The sick, the depraved,
The desperate, the tired,
All the scum
Of our weary city
Gather up
In the arms of your pity
Gather up
In the arms of your love –
Those who expect
No love from above.

– Langston Hughes