Choral Piece of the Day, Installment 55: "Set No. 10 of Three Pieces"
("Like a Sick Eagle," "Luck and Work," "The Indians")
arranged for SATB Chorus and Piano (Ives/Hoffman, arr.)
Charles Ives (1874-1954) composed this set for voice and piano between 1920-1921. My arrangement was completed one hundred years later in 2021.
The initial response my posting about this arrangement was underwhelming. To quote Ives, "I don't write music for sissy ears." I am reposting about this arrangement because I dare choral conductors to be brave enough to perform it. It may be challenging, but these three titles are well worth tackling.
My original announcement appears below. Thank you for your consideration, and be well.
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I have long had a fondness for the songs of Ives whose music is in the Public Domain for the world as of 2024. Creating choral versions of some of them is inspired by the solo recordings made by Jan DeGaetani accompanied by Gilbert Kalish, and by the choral recordings made by The Gregg Smith Singers.
That Ives composed over one hundred songs is no small feat. Though they vary in quality as does his entire oeuvre, some of them remain almost mystical to me in their quality and effect. "Like a Sick Eagle" and "The Indians" are two such songs.
When arranging "Like a Sick Eagle," I visited the website for the Charles Ives Society where I discovered that he grouped this song with "The Indians" under the master title "Set No. 10 of Three Pieces" with the song "Luck and Work" placed between them for contrast. I knew I could arrange the first and third songs for mixed chorus, but I also knew right away that the second song would be all but impossible to arrange for I was already familiar with it. So I included it in its original version and labeled it "for Solo Voice or Unison Chorus and Piano."
In creating these arrangements I hope to rekindle interest in Ives’ music and its possibilities. I also hope that you find these songs as moving as I do.
—Stanley M. Hoffman
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Arrangement: © Copyright 2021 by Stanley M. Hoffman.
All rights reserved.
This title is available for sale from Sheet Music Plus.
Here is the URL for the product page.
Released to USA in 2021; released to the world in 2024.
Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF for this arrangement.
Follow the next URL to hear a high quality synthesized rendition of this arrangement which is awaiting a world premiere performance.
Follow the next URL to view the arranger's scrolling score music video on YouTube.
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