Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music ... - NewMusicBox

NewMusicBox May 2003
LINDA HOESCHLER: Great! Sign here with this contract I have in my purse, you'll get a
discounted rate!
MOSES HOGAN: Actually I have over seventy published arrangements now, and that is not
near enough as some of my colleagues at Hal Leonard. Generally, I have done research and have a
collected text of spirituals, and when someone will ask me about a text, what I choose, or will say
something that they have in mind. You have got five hundred other spirituals to choose from. So
you are not really out of material. And, you know, it is not a set pattern for me. I don't know. I
am just encouraging or motivating maybe by the intention for the person who tells me the story
about what they are trying to do. And I am going to speak to Mr. Rivers about a special project
that he has a couple of years ago from now. I will begin to get my motivation about the text. It
may not be something that I already have to do, but when he tells me in more detail, I will
become excited just by listening to what he has to say. And then we will work through what his
program is and I will give him a couple of ideas. But I must meet the needs of the commissioner,
not "I'm going to do what I want to do, and I hope you like it!" It must be a collaborative effort.
So there is nothing pressing. But I get the motivation from the person who is offering me the
invitation.
LIBBY LARSEN: Like you, I have a whole wall of poetry and I have many texts that I would
like to set. But of course, you are talking about collaboration and with each person whom I work
with a similar kind of dialogue takes place. I will suggest texts that I have, my top ten texts that I
hope some day to be able to set. But will always try to suggest a couple of texts and then hear
the texts that might be already on the table to look at, and we talk about it to try to understand
what words that the choir would feel good about singing. This is very important.
AUDIENCE QUESTION: You pretty well answered what I was going to ask. I was wanting to
know, how does that dialogue get started? Often, as a conductor, I too love poetry. I read a lot of
poetry. So often for a particular situation or whatever, I am inspired by certain things, and I
would like to consider having those things be set, but I am just wondering how the dialogue goes
back and forth. And I will give one instance. I love Rilke's poetry. And I conducted a choir for a
while called the Orpheus Choir of Toronto. And I said to Imant Raminsh, "I would really like
this particular translation of Rilke's poetry, and can you do something for me?" He said yes, and
then he got into it, and as he got into it we started talking, and he goes, "Man, this thing is so
wordy. Where do I go with this?" And so that became an interesting dialogue. And in the end, I
got a fifteen-minute piece out of it, but I just wonder…
MOSES HOGAN: It is a collaborative process. Even something as simple as a verse, "This little
light of mine," which was a commission by the St. Olaf Choir and Anton Armstrong. I wrote that
for their Christmas Special last year. And in that process I called Anton about three different
times because there are 3 or 4 different versions of it. And I said, "Well Anton. What would you
like me to do here? Is it appropriate to use this text here?" And he said, "Well, no. Let's use this
text." So it was all based on collaborative effort, and that makes a very successful relationship.
They are going to perform that on Saturday, and I am looking forward to hearing it.
Composers’ Dialogue #1, 08/06/2002