December 07, 2005

Food of Love

A few months ago I was asked to design the poster for this year's concert for the Bob Jones University Chorale. For me part of nailing down a relevant design was getting my hands on the sheet music and developing a mental picture for the overall personality of the performance. The focus of the concert was on modern choral composers. Dr. Cook took "New Voices in American Choral Music" as the title for the performance. The scope of the concert was very wide; from the beloved 'Magnum Mysterium' by Lauridsen to the world debut performance of Dan Forrest's award winning "Words from Paradise" (which beat Rutter for first place in a recent international composition contest).

The final poster design crystalized from what I had read in the music into a two dimensional version of what I expected to eventually hear. Wide sweeping phrases built on full, eight part chords in 2/2 time contrasted against what I pictured to be something like vocal pezzicato in 7/8. (I did manage to get hear some snippets at a chorale conference that the BJ Chorale sang for in Anderson before the polished concert)

Chorale-proof.jpg

Finally getting to hear the performance from the third row of War Memorial was amazing! In the end I felt more satisfied with the design after the concert than I had before I had heard the music. The entire choir was very focused and controlled. One of my favorites is "A Basque Lullaby" by Forrest.

I really can't tell you how extraordinary the recording is. I've been listening to straight it since I got my copy. I've heard through some chorale friends that a choir director at the school where Forrest is persuing his doctorate liked the recording more than his own choir's sound with the "Words from Paradise" collection. It's simply a great recording of a very talented group of singers performing award winning compositions directed by an extremely brilliant choral conductor. And I love it! Copies are made at the univerity's book store. Email me if you would like to hear some sample clips (I'm having trouble uploading them).

Posted by timf at December 7, 2005 01:43 PM
Comments

seems to be an error in the image. I'm anxious to see it.

Posted by: jonkopp at December 7, 2005 04:54 PM

I want to hear it! Show us Wed. at work. LIke the poster though.

Posted by: Beth Martin at December 8, 2005 02:40 PM

You really did a good job on those posters. Glad you enjoyed the concert, too. And it's true - Forrest liked our sound better than his choir's. He said they had to have the piano play along in a few spots because the singers kept getting lost.

One note - Forrest's "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" was the one that beat out Rutter. "Words from Paradise" did win some awards, but not that one in particular. The award was for the piece that the judges felt best represented where church choral music was.

Posted by: mounty at December 9, 2005 09:52 AM
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