From the monthly archives:
My Dear Rufus
I heard your preview aria from your new opera and am quite pleased at your new direction.
Might I remind you to please not be overly influenced by Philip Glass, and his habit of getting “stuck” in one register when composing for the keyboard. Look at the piano music I have written and especially [...]
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All there is is love mp3
Music: Roger Bourland
Text: Paul Monette
Jon Bailey conducts the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles.
Chuck White, recording
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Paul Monette heard the premiere of HIDDEN LEGACIES in Royce Hall and rushed up to me afterwords to thank John and me. I [...]
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LETTERS TO THE FUTURE (1993)
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: James Merrill, May Swenson, Thom Gunn, Francisco X Alarcon, JD McClatchy, bell hooks, Allen Ginsburg, Adrienne Rich
Richard Garrin conducts the Windy City Gay Chorus (June 1994)
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles
1. Song of God B (Merrill)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
2. Symmetrical Companion (Swenson)
[Audio clip: view [...]
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Hidden Legacies (1992)
1. Before the storm mp3
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
2. The nightmare mp3
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
3. Give us a death undiminished mp3
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
4. Left behind mp3
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
5. Dinosaur mp3
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
6. Lullabye mp3
[Audio clip: view [...]
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Alarcon Madrigals, Book 3 (2007) mp3
1. Body in flames
2. Lamentario
3. Like a crazed flower
4. Face and heart
5. Guardian angel
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: Francisco X Alarcon
Iris Levine conducts Vox Femina -LA
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music – Los Angeles
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Because Vox Femina so loved “Both page and pen” and its erotic imagery, I [...]
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Alarcon Madrigals, Book 2 (2002) mp3
1. I want to stop being an endless night
2. Wind
3. Bird
4. Both page and pen
5. Matriarch
6. Another language
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: Francisco X Alarcon
Iris Levine conducts Vox Femina
The Tolerance Project June 22, 2002
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
In the late 1990’s, a new women’s chorus was formed in Los Angeles [...]
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Alarcon Madrigals Book 1 (1994) mp3
1. In a neighborhood in LA
2. Un beso is not a kiss
3. Tan real
4. Antiqua cancion
5. A small but fateful victory
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: Francisco X Alarcon
Vance Wolverton conducts the CalState Fullerton Women’s Chorus
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
I first got to know the [...]
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Garden Abstract (1976) mp3
SSSAAA
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: Hart Crane
Conductor: Thomas Toscano; NEC grad students
Publisher: Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
In “Garden Abstract” I figured out how to weave voices together in a better harmonic way, making it easier to sing. The piece was premiered on a graduate composers concert at [...]
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Three Clouds for chorus (1975) mp3
1. Cirrus
2. The Great Red Spot
3. Celestial
Music: Roger Bourland
Unpublished
Christopher McGann, directs UW Madison Chamber Singers
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
This piece should be put in my folder called “juvenilia.” I was an ardent anti-tonalist here, my heroes late Stravinsky sacred choral music, and Ligeti’s “Requiem.” Each movement explores a [...]
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Dickinson Madrigals Bk3 (1985) mp3
SATB
1. Glee four forty
2. How lonesome the wind
3. The earth has many keys
4. Giant rain
Music: Roger Bourland
Poetry: Emily Dickinson
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music, Los Angeles
Donn Weiss conducts the UCLA Chorale
For this set I decided to try SATB, as the last two had been for women’s chorus. This set has four movements, [...]
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