OUP Women Composers Orchestral, Opera, Chamber, Instrumental and Choral Catalogue

Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen Choral Leaflets/ Octavos Secular At April SATB and piano Digital † 9780193546677 From the collection Love Songs, ‘At April’ sets a text by American activist Angelina Weld Grimké. Scored for SATB and piano, and featuring a driving accompaniment, this piece is a wild dance of spring, youth, and freedom. 2.5 minutes Clinging SATB & piano Digital † 9780193546684 From the collection Love Songs, ‘Clinging’ explores a woman’s experiences of losing love, both past and present. Scored for SATB and piano, its use of discords creates a sense of poignancy while the overall slow tempo conveys an atmosphere which is regretful yet resolved. 4 minutes Day Song SSA unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193862418 An exuberant song of rejoicing at the dawn, with a catchy, toe-tapping refrain of ‘Cry jubilee’. 3 minutes Dear Love SATB unaccompanied Digital † 9780193546707 From the collection Love Songs, ‘Dear Love’ sets a text by American writer Willa Cather. Scored for SATB unaccompanied, this meditation on the universality of love features rich, lucid harmonies and creates a hauntingly wistful atmosphere. 3.5 minutes Eine kleine Snailmusik Treble voices or SSA and double bass Vocal score 9780193864351 Larsen’s fun setting of a sweetly humorous text by May Sarton will provide enjoyable and rewarding learning for school or amateur choirs. The contrabass part would also be suitable for the younger pupil. 3 minutes I find my feet have further goals SATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193861527 The music, superficially simple with a gently rocking rhythm framing a declamation of the text, allows the words to speak for themselves whilst simultaneously enhancing their expressive power. 3 minutes I just lightning SSAA and percussion Vocal score 9780193860445 Percussion part* 9780193860452 A riveting setting for women’s voices and percussion of a Mexican Indian chant evoking the Divine Spirit and praying for healing and spiritual strength. Full of Larsen’s characteristic atmospheric effects and vivid word-painting, the text and music celebrate the significance of women in the quest for spiritual enlightenment. *Percussion part available from Banks Music Publications 7 minutes Dirty No Gooder Blues SATB and piano Digital † 9780193546745 From the collection Love Songs, ‘Dirty No Gooder Blues’ is a raucous composition which pays homage to worldrenowned blues singer and lyricist Bessie Smith. Scored for SATB and piano, it features Smith’s lyrics alongside bluesinfluenced rhythms and harmonies. 4 minutes 32

If I Could Stop One Heart From Breaking SSA chorus and chamber orchestra Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193865907 Originally the last movement of Today, this spring, the work reflects the infinite joyous spirit of two women who succumbed to breast cancer and their courageous example of peacefulness in the face of adversity. Also published in Flexible Choral Songs. 3 minutes Invitation to Music SATB and piano/string quartet/orchestra Vocal score 9780193860704 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193860711 A haunting depiction of the “magic made by melody . . . Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep”, from a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. 5 minutes Jack’s Valentine SSAA unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193865952 This piece is the brash inside echo of what so many of us stumble to put into words in the outside world. Aldeen Humphreys’ poem is a tribute to Jack Kerouac and is a little packet of courage for shy lovers. 1.5 minutes Looking at each other SATB & piano Digital † 9780193546691 From the collection Love Songs, ‘Looking at each other’ sets a text by renowned poet Muriel Rukeyser. Scored for SATB and piano, this piece uses paired voices and parallel thirds to explore the image of two people long acquainted and attracted to each other. Recurring motifs and clipped piano phrases enhance the atmosphere of tension. 3 minutes May Sky SSAATTBB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193866225 Commissioned for the 2002 World Choral Symposium, ‘May Sky’ is based on haiku written by Japanese and Japanese- American detainees in camps in the American West. 6 minutes Reasons for Loving the Harmonica SATB and piano Vocal score 9780193866218 This short, light-hearted setting of a Julie Kane text is suitable for school or youth choirs, its homophonic texture and fun words making it easy to learn. 4 minutes A Salute to Louis Armstrong SATB and piano Vocal score 9780193862289 Digital 9780193541016 This salute to the spirit of Louis Armstrong breathtakingly incorporates ‘Basin Street Blues’, ‘Lady be good’, ‘Tiger Rag’, ‘When the saints go marching in’, and more surprisingly excerpts from ‘Clair de Lune’ and from Brahms’ A flat major Piano Serenade. It is in one movement, which may be performed on its own, taken from the choral suite Seven Ghosts. 3 minutes Libby Larsen 33