Program Notes
Mountain Song (2025) musically honors the magnificent and essential natural world that surrounds us. Through a sonic dialogue between the two choral parts, body percussion, and piano, the piece evokes humans' interaction with nature, highlighting and personifying the wisdom of different plants, animals, and elements. By lyrically exploring the past, present, and future, Mountain Song envisions a world where humans and their environment coexist in literal and figurative harmony. Thank you to Amanda Galster, Milford School District, the Mountain Song consortium members, and Choral Arts New England for commissioning this work.
Additional Information
Mountain Song is meant to be an adaptable piece, flexible for choirs with developing voices and singers with widely varying vocal ranges. Conductors and educators are encouraged to adjust the two choral parts as needed (e.g., octave doubling/displacement, use of ossias) to best support their choir's needs.
Text
One day the mountains will call to me
Asking for strength through eternity,
Wondering why we're moving so fast
When courage and kindness were meant to last.
Last evening the lilacs whispered aloud,
"Beauty and joy can always be found.
Whether we're blooming or deep under snow,
Colorful petals will always grow."
As I was walking, the birch trees awoke.
Through all the eyes in their bark, they spoke:
"Treasure this day and treasure yourself;
Your presence and care are the greatest wealth."
And now the mountains call to me
As do the lakes, the fields, and the streams,
The deer and the hawk, the finch in the tree,
Saying, "Always remember to love and be free."
Notes on the Text
Nature elements included in this text celebrate the natural beauty of New Hampshire through its state symbols. They are:
Mountain: state emblem (the Old Man of the Mountain)
Purple lilac: state flower
White birch: state tree
White-tailed deer: state animal
Red-tailed hawk: state raptor
Purple finch: state bird
The third stanza references a quote by American author Ray Bradbury: "Treasure this day and treasure yourself. Truly, neither will ever happen again."
Mountain Song Consortium Members
Consortium lead: Milford Middle School, Amanda Galster
Hanover Street School, Catherine Beasley
Keene High School Choirs, Matthew Leese
Keene State College Music Department
Milford High School, Jennifer Erdody
Moultonborough Academy, Emma Forest
Mount Lebanon School, Christine Greenough
Plymouth State University, Harmony Markey
Profile Middle School and High School, Sarah Ressler
This project is supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England
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