The a cappella group (and MotD favorite) Voctave released a new album, The Corner of Broadway & Main St Vol. 2 earlier this month, featuring an assortment of Disney and Broadway hits. “Somewhere,” from Alan Menken’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, closes the album. Beginning in C major, the arrangement modulates to E at 2:11 before retreating back briefly to D at the 3:00 mark. A final shift to F occurs at 3:33.
Tag: a cappella
Jean Berger | The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee
According to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, composer Jean Berger was born Arthur Schlossberg in Germany in 1909. After earning a Ph.D. in musicology in 1931, he moved to Paris and changed his name to Jean Berger as the Nazis came to power in Germany. He later moved to the United States, became an American citizen, and enlisted in the US Army in 1942. After the war, he became an arranger for CBS and NBC and toured as a concert accompanist. During the latter part of his career, he taught for decades at several American colleges and universities while continuing to compose.
Choral works were very much the central focus of Berger’s composition. “The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee” (1959), one of Berger’s best known pieces, is based on text from Psalm 145. This performance, taken from a 2012 collection entitled Worthy to Be Praised, is by the Messiah University Choirs’ Chamber Singers.
After starting in E minor, the piece features a mid-section (0:49 – 1:18) which shifts across several keys. The third section partially mirrors the first, with the substantial difference of closing the piece in E major.
The Quad | America The Beautiful
Two-time Grammy Award-winning arranger Ben Bram has been featured on MotD previously for his arrangement of “Smile.” Here, Bram’s quartet, The Quad, performs his arrangement of “America The Beautiful,” featuring three downward modulations. Beginning in Bb, the first key change to G comes at 1:06, followed by shifts to D at 1:58 and C at 3:16.
The contemporary update of the lyrics was co-written by Bram and Jonathan Levine.
Flash Mob, Turin, Italy | Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus”
Of all the things we’re missing now, the feeling of participating in a flash mob (as a planful participant or an unwitting audience member) might be among the most difficult to recall. This 2013 a cappella performance of Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” (1791), nothing less than a pillar of the choral repertoire, resounds beautifully in the setting of a soaring Italian atrium.
Dr. Jimbob’s Mozart page (written by Dr. James Chi-Shin Liu, an internist with a specialty in performing arts medicine as well as an extensive scholarship of music!) has this to say about the piece: “Mozart’s setting is far from pedestrian or undistinguished…Artur Schnabel famously described as too simple for children and too difficult for adults (after all, simple music like this exposes any lapses of rhythm, intonation, or ensemble). And the music seems to encompass a universe of feeling in forty-six short bars.”
This rendition begins with an extended D major drone as the shoppers gradually figure out that a performance is afoot; the performance itself begins at 2:18. At 3:23, the piece’s dominant key of D major gives way to F major, returning to D major at 3:57. The choir returns to the D major drone, gradually tapering down to nothing and transitioning to applause, before the shoppers go on about their day.
Voctave | How Far I’ll Go (from “Moana”)
Featured in Disney’s 2016 animated blockbuster Moana, “How Far I’ll Go” serves as the “I Want” song (a common device used in musical theatre and Disney movies where a character expresses their fundamental ambition) for the title character in the film. Lin Manuel Miranda, who wrote and produced the track, claimed he locked himself in his childhood bedroom for a weekend in order to force his mind back to age 16 (the same age as Moana in the film) — a time when he was facing what seemed like an “impossible distance” between the reality of his pleasant middle-class childhood which had no connection to show business whatsoever, and his dreams of a career in show business. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, but ultimately lost both to La La Land; it was awarded Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammy Awards. Performed by MotD favorite Voctave, the key change is at 2:14.
Black Artists for Black Lives | Feeding Off the Love of the Land
As described by the performers, Black Artists for Black Lives, “This arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Feeding Off the Love of the Land’ was born out of grief, and evolved into a communal message of healing. In the midst of our grief, we sing with renewed strength and love. We sing for them… We sing for US.”
Stevie’s original appeared under the credits of Spike Lee’s 1991 film Jungle Fever, but didn’t appear on any of Stevie’s studio albums.
Starting with a gorgeous a cappella arrangement in B major, an instrumental accompaniment sneaks in at 0:30 and swells at the early modulation to D major at 0:48. The energy continues to build until the ensemble hits its fullest stride at 2:04.
Stevie’s original, which doesn’t include a modulation:
Voctave | Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Nathaniel Dett Chorale | Abide With Me
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, based in Canada, specializes in Afrocentric music of all styles, including classical, spirituals, gospel, jazz, folk and blues. Founded in 1998 by Brainerd Blyden-Taylor (who continues to serve as director), the group has performed across the US and in Canada, and was featured at the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. From their website:
“The Chorale’s vision is to be a premier performer of Afrocentric composers — past, present, and future — and to be a touchstone for the education for audiences and communities regarding the full spectrum of Afrocentric choral music. The Nathaniel Dett Chorale’s mission is to build bridges of understanding, appreciation, and acceptance between communities of people, both Afrocentric and other, through the medium of music. The Chorale seeks to dissolve the barriers of stereotype, to empower humans in general, and those of African descent in particular.”
“Abide With Me,” a 19th century hymn, is featured on one of their live performance DVDs. Key change at 2:47.
Committed | Lift Every Voice
Ending our week with some much-needed uplift: A cappella quintet Committed, according to its site, “solidified their sound while at school at Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL…The group had the amazing opportunity to be featured on the second season of NBC’s hit singing competition The Sing Off and emerged as the season two champions.”
NPR’s Performance Today details the history of today’s feature, also known as the black national anthem: “Poet James Weldon Johnson’s ‘Lift Every Voice’ was written in 1900 for a Lincoln birthday celebration at the segregated Stanton School in Johnson’s native Jacksonville, Florida. The song became immensely popular and was passed on among students throughout the South. About 20 years later, the NAACP adopted it as the ‘Negro National Hymn.'” The tune has seen prominent covers by Melba Moore (backed up by Stephanie Jackson, Freddie Jackson, Anita Baker, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osborne, and Howard Hewett), Bebe and Cece Winans, Take 6, The Clark Sisters, Rene Marie, and Beyonce.
In this 2015 version, Committed starts in Eb major with simple textures; a wordless bridge emerges at 2:25, building in intensity. There’s a whole-step modulation at 2:42 as the verse returns, adding a few piquant re-harmonizations and some spectacularly broad voicings.
Ben Bram + Quartet | Smile
Written by comedian Charlie Chaplin for his film Modern Times (1936), lyrics were added to “Smile” in 1954. The tune has been covered by many artists, including Nat “King” Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. Perhaps the most iconic of these performances was by Judy Garland on the Ed Sullivan Show (1965).
According to his website, arranger Ben Bram is “a two-time Grammy Award winning vocal arranger, producer, and engineer” who has worked with a capella powerhouse Pentatonix, and productions including “Pitch Perfect, The Sing-Off, and Glee, providing expertise as an arranger, coach, vocal producer, on-set music director, and studio vocalist.”
Here, Bram and his SATB a cappella quartet present his stunning arrangement of Chaplin’s classic tune. Unexpected 3/4 sections take center stage at 1:34 – 1:50 and 3:15 – 3:40 and a beautiful modulation hits at 1:48. But the stars of this performance are the often super-close voicings, the effortless passing of the melody from part to part, and the quartet’s gorgeous blend and balance.
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