PROGRAM NOTES

Mid-Winter Songs
Notes by composer
The Mid-Winter Songs on poems by Robert Graves was commissioned by the University of Southern California to celebrate its Centennial in 1980, and was premiered that year by the USC Chamber Singers, conducted by Rodney Eichenberger. The cycle has since been widely performed in both its original chorus/piano version (recorded by Choral Cross-Ties, conducted by Bruce Browne, on Lauridsen: The Complete Choral Cycles) and the subsequent chorus/orchestral setting, commissioned and premiered by the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra in the Ambassador Auditorium in 1983 and recorded by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Paul Salamunovich, on Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna (RCM).

In reading Graves (1895-1985), I became very much taken with the richness, elegance and extraordinary beauty of his poetry and his insights regarding the human experience. Five diverse poems with a common "winter" motif (a particular favorite of mine, rich in the paradoxical symbolism of dying/rejuvenation, light/darkness, sleeping/waking) suggested a cohesive musical cycle. The principal musical materials for the entire work, especially the intervals of an ascending major ninth and descending major second, are derived from the opening choral setting of "Dying Sun," and recur throughout the piece. The cycle is cast in an overall arch form, framed by the intensely dramatic and passionate setting of the "Lament for Pasiphaë" and the gentle, prayerful "Intercession in Late October."

"modern masterpieces"
— The Oregonian

Chorale Honors Shaw With Music of Brahms, Lauridsen

     Los Angeles Times, Richard S. Ginell     April 27th, 1999
In tribute to Robert Shaw, conductor Paul Salamunovich led the Los Angeles Master Chorale in an emotionally involving program of works by Brahms and Lauridsen
   Fate commanded the dedication of the Los Angeles Master Chorale's concert Sunday night to choral legend Robert Shaw, who died in January. That Sunday's program at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion mostly consisted of Brahms was most opportune; it's hard to conceive of anything more consoling than Brahms' best choral music.
   Yet the concert was also a celebration of a living composer, USC's Morten Lauridsen, whose reputation went into orbit this year after a Master Chorale CD of his music, "Lux Aeterna" (RCM), was nominated for a Grammy. Lauridsen has tapped into something deep and resounding in his audience, writing radiant, heartfelt, eminently singable choral music without apology.
   Lauridsen's "Mid-Winter Songs" (1980), on the program Sunday, is not typical of the other, later works on the CD. It dons a cloak of Americana emblazoned with streaks of Copland proclamations in "Lament for Pasipahae" and Bernstein syncopations in "Like Snow" and "Mid-Winter Waking." Yet it creates a similar enveloping effect with its homogenous blending of orchestral and choral forces, and conductor Paul Salamunovich balanced them superbly, especially at low volumes.

Duerr Conducts at Ambassador

     Los Angeles Times, John Henken     April 14th, 1983
   ...These virtues were skillfully deployed in aid of Morten Lauridsen's “Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves.” Though already recorded in another version, this was its premiere with full orchestral accompaniment.
   The USC composer has fashioned an evocative cycle reminiscent of Britten in style and effect. Pungently scored, rhythmically varied, and highly flattering to a good chorus, “Mid-Winter Songs” is accessible in the best sense.