Composition

SATB Chorus with Piano Accompaniment

Commissioned by the Da Camera Singers of Amherst, MA for their 2011 season. A setting of five early poems by Robert Frost.

Contents:

• To the Thawing Wind
• Stars
• Revelation
• Fire and Ice
• Going for Water

Reviews:

“Ronald Perera set “North Country,” five poems by Robert Frost. Their theme was self-concealment and, in the central poem, revelation. The music was perfectly fitted to the poetry, occasionally dissonant and more often delicate and clear, in keeping with the beautiful conclusion of “Going for Water” (the last poem), “We heard, we knew we heard the brook.” The chorus was the Northfield Mount Hermon Singers, whose young voices and disciplined performance were the musical and emotional highlight of the concert.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette 1/23/2014

Score Sample:

Audio Excerpts:
Performed by the Da Camera Singers; Sheila L. Heffernon, conductor; Craig Sanford, piano

5. Going for Water

SATB Chorus.

A cappella settings of three Emily Dickinson poems including the well known “Wild Nights.” Dedicated to Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers.

Movements:

1. Ample Make This Bed
2. Wild Nights
3. Bring Me the Sunset In a Cup

Audio Excerpt:
“Bring me the Sunset in a Cup” performed by the New Amsterdam Singers; Clara Longstreth, music director

SATB Chorus with String Quartet & Piano Accompaniment

Settings of eight Poems of Mary Oliver that are highly contrasting in texture and mood, trace a cycle in the natural world from dawn of one day to dawn of the next. This piece was co-commissioned by the Chatham Chorale and the New Amsterdam Singers.

Reviews:

Poems by Mary Oliver are the basis of Ronald Perera’s colourful and poignant Why I Wake Early, named for the last of eight sections that move from one morning to the next. Both composers season their essentially tonal language with harmonic spices but what stands out in each score is expressive vocal and instrumental writing that flows from the texts with idiomatic grace and intensity. These are deeply affecting pieces and meaningful additions to the choral repertoire…. In his settings of the Oliver poems, Perera places the chorus in a series of glistening soundscapes in collaboration with string quartet and piano. The final titular poem basks in reflective beauty before taking euphoric wing on the words “I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”

Gramaphone (UK) December 2012

Nature demanded its due on Sunday afternoon, as clocks pushed forward for daylight savings time provided an extra hour of sunlight to observe debris strew by the ferocious windstorm on Saturday night. The New Amsterdam Singers seemed to have planned in advance with “As Nature Wakes,” an enjoyable mix of American and Czech works featuring nature as subject or metaphor, presented that afternoon at the Church of the Holy Trinity.

This adventurous amateur chorus, founded by the conductor, Clara Longstreth in 1968, celebrated its 40th anniversary with the New York premiere of Ronald Perera’s “Why I Wake Early,” jointly commissioned by it and the Chatham Chorale of Cape Cod, Mass. Mr. Perera set eight poems by Mary Oliver, a Cape Cod poet, for mixed chorus, string quartet, and piano.

Ms. Oliver’s poetry, which has drawn comparisons to the work of Emerson and Thoreau, reveals an awestruck regard of nature that verges on the religious: “What wretchedness, to believe only in what can be proven,” she writes in “I Looked Up,” the fifth poem in Mr. Perera’s cycle. Her work also demonstrates a discerning eye and an ability to render vivid images with a few deft strokes.

Mr. Perera sensitively underscores both attributes in a cycle spanning a day from one dawn to the next, linked by a subtle, recurring four-note motif. His music neatly conjures Ms. Oliver’s rippling pond, wary crows, flitting bats and lazily unspooling snake. At the same time, the work’s dramatic progression, from the shivering anticipation of “Morning at Great Pond” to the radiant affirmation of the concluding title poem, “Why I Wake Early,” does justice to the poet’s more transcendental intents. Enhanced by Mr. Perera’s estimable knack for setting English, this is a substantial addition to the choral canon.

The New York Times, 3/11/2008

Saturday’s Chatham Chorale concert at the Yarmouth Congregational Church gave listeners much to celebrate.


It marked the 20th year of Margaret Bossi’s tenure as director, and the concert became a special evening of Americana through works by composers with Massachusetts origins or connections — Leonard Bernstein, Irving Fine, Aaron Copland and the composer Ronald Perera. Perera’s composition Why I Wake Early, based on eight poems by Cape poet Mary Oliver, was given its world premiere and formed the centerpiece of the program.


In the tradition of the New England Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau, Oliver’s poems are inspired by nature and our relationship to it. Her vision is essentially upbeat without denying the harsh realities of the natural world. She has written: “Every poem is music — a determined, persuasive, reliable, enthusiastic and crafted music.”


Perera, a Northampton resident who taught at Smith College for 30 years, has remarkably and faithfully caught and enunciated the spirit of that statement.


His music is eminently approachable (no hard lessons here in “self-improvement”) and wraps around the music of the poems comfortably and with telling effect.


In “Entering the Kingdom,” a piece about the poet tentatively entering the alien realm inhabited by crows, the composer used the time-tested techniques of a repeated passage in the bass, extended chords and skipping upward scales aided by dialogue from a skilled string quartet. In “Bats,” with its swooping choral and instrumental word painting and string and piano tremolos, the chorale sang well within itself presenting some of the best ensemble work of the evening.


The eighth and final setting of the work Why I Wake Early concludes the work on an unapologetically optimistic note. This is Perera’s second commission for the chorale, having written in 1991, The Outermost House, based on Henry Beston’s book about his solitary winter on the Cape in the mid-1920s.


Perera writes exceedingly well for the chorale and this work should find a permanent place in the American choral canon.

Cape Cod Times, 11/12/2007

Audio Excerpt:
Audio excerpt is movement eight of Why I Wake Early. Performed by Coro Allegro, David Hodgkins, conductor, from the album Awakenings by Navona Records NV5878.

12. Why I Wake Early

SATB A Cappella

Score Sample:

Audio Excerpt:
Syracuse University Singers, Earl George, conductor

Soprano solo, SATB chorus, and Organ

Commissioned in memory of Samuel H. Miller by the Harvard University Choir for its annual carol service. The text is Christmas Carol by Samuel H. Miller.

Reviews:

Samuel H. Miller’s poem is dramatically stated by Perera within contemporary sonorities. An independent organ part elevates itself as an equal to the more chordal lines. Organist as well as singers should be experienced in this Christmas work. Recommended for the better adult church choirs.

The Choral Journal 3/75

Score Sample:

Audio Excerpt:
Harvard University Choir, John Ferris, conductor

Narrator, SATB chorus, Synthesized accompaniment (CD) or Keyboard

A dramatic cantata in which the narrator sets forth, in English, events from the life of St. Francis, and the chorus sings, in Italian, the sections of his famous poem. Commissioned for the 100th anniversary of Groton School. St. Francis of Assisi’s poetry praises the creation of the sun, moon, earth, wind, water, fire. Very appealing synthesized accompaniment, excellent historical/performance notes. (Italian text in Umbrian dialect.)

The Outermost House: The late Robert Lurtsema narrates these colorful, melodic works. Includes Robert Perera’s The Outermost House performed by Chatham Chorale, Margaret Bossi, conductor, Nancy Armstrong, soprano, Robert J. Lurtsema, narrator and The Canticle of the Sun performed by Chatham Chorale, Margaret Bossi, conductor, Robert J. Lurtsema, narratorand .Available on: Albany Records iTunes

Movements:

1. Processional
2. Reading No. 1
3. Chorus, “Altissimu omnipotente bon signore”
4. Reading No. 2
5. Chorus, “Laudatu sie, mi signore”
6. Reading No. 3
7. Chorus, “Laudato si’, mi signore, per quelli che perdonano”
8. Reading No. 4
9. Chorus, “Laudato si’, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale”
10. Reading No. 5
11. Hymn, “Laudate et benedicite mi signore”
12. Recessional

Reviews:

Perera’s ability to set text to memorable music is very much in evidence but, perhaps influenced by both his principal text being in Latin as well as his chosen accompaniment, there is a feeling of pastiche, albeit one of very high quality, that comes into play. There is, if you will, a Monteverdi-meets-Philip Glass sensibility about a lot of the music. Still, there are beautiful moments, such as the entire ninth movement, set for unaccompanied choir.

John Story, Fanfare Magazine, May/June 1999 (review of Albany Troy CD 314)

Composed in 1984, this “modern miracle play was not published until Canticle of the Sun was conceived as a liturgical drama in which Ronald Perera spins the story of the creation of a hymn of praise to God by the great St. Francis of Assisi, as seen in all things mortal and natural (“Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” for example). The forces include a mixed choir and a men’s choir who sing
in procession (accompanied by the handbell), a narrator, and a keyboard (perhaps more than one) or synthesized accompaniment
(available for purchase and well-cued in the score, but not provided for this review). An additional requirement, though not particularly noted, is an acoustically vibrant performing space; the choreography and interplay of instruments, voice, and narrator, need to blend and overlap in mystery.

The composer chose to set the saint’s words in their original Italian (and provides a much-appreciated recorded guide to pronunciation), with the narrator delivering the story of the origin of the work in English. For the piece to flourish, the drama involved should have equal importance with music, and one should take note that this is a lot of Italian to sing. Musically, the piece consists of Stravinskian might and angularity juxtaposed
with ravishing lyricism (“Laudato si,’ mi signore”) and a good dose of the mysterious (” … per sora nosrra morre corporale”). Though nor a derivative work in any sense, Carl Orff may be an influence in this macaronic mix of language,
style, and imagery. The work, though not major in length, is certainly major in heft and demands. It si divided into eleven sections, including opening and closing processions. Choruses and readings alternate throughout, with a concluding hymn, “Laudate et
benedicite mi signore.”

Those who admire the work of St. Francis and the work of modern Franciscans will be moved and inspired by this work. But who is to perform it? Perhaps a consortium of dedicated professional and volunteer singers willing to strive mightily in text, music, and movement to bring to the public a powerful, well-crafted mini-oratorio. This is not for
the faint of heart, although those who commit and engage in it will have their efforts blessed by the peacefulness of St. Francis.

The duration of the work is not indicated, but is estimated by this author to be approximately thirty minutes. The publisher also offers a version of only the choruses to permit a performance of those in concert format.

Richard Coffey, Choral Journal, February 2001

Score Sample:

Solo Baritone and SATB chorus with Brass Quintet, Timpani and Organ

Commissioned for the 350th anniversary of Harvard University. The text of the piece is from William Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation. Following an opening solo baritone setting of Governor Bradford’s thanksgiving text, the chorus develops a motet out of a moving passage that starts “out of small beginnings.”

Audio Excerpt:
Nathaniel Watson, baritone; Harvard University Choir; John Ferris, conductor

Narrator, Soprano solo, SATB chorus with Flute (doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling english horn), 2 horns, piano, percussion (one player), 2 cellos, contrabass

Based on The Outermost House by Henry Beston, which recounts the experience of living for a year in a two-room cottage on the beach in Eastham, Cape Cod. With one exception, the odd-number movements are for the narrator, while the even numbers are usually for the chorus with and without the soprano.

Commissioned by the Chatham Chorale, Margaret Bossi, director, in honor of its founder, Marjorie Bennett Morley.

The Outermost House: The late Robert Lurtsema narrates these colorful, melodic works. Includes Robert Perera’s The Outermost House performed by Chatham Chorale, Margaret Bossi, conductor, Nancy Armstrong, soprano, Robert J. Lurtsema, narrator and The Canticle of the Sun performed by Chatham Chorale, Margaret Bossi, conductor, Robert J. Lurtsema, narratorand .Available on: Albany Records iTunes

Movements:
1. East of America
2. My Western Windows
3. A New Sound on the Beach
4. The Sea Has Many Voices
5. Now Come the Sea Fowl
6. Glorious White Birds
7. A Year Indoors
8. That Multiplicity of Insect Tracks
9. The Wreck of the Montclair
10. Night on the Great Beach
11. It Was Still Night
12. My Year Upon the Beach
13. Hold Out Your Hands Over the Earth

Reviews:

Inspired by the 1927 writing of Henry Beston when he spent a year in virtual solitude at Eastham Beach, “The Outermost House” is a remarkable composition that possesses the musical power to reveal and communicate the many faces of nature when sea, land, sky, wind, and sand collide together in one expansive area. The Saturday night performance was breathtaking, the audience seemingly held spellbound by the unfolding musical drama.

Cape Cod Times 10/16/95

The final piece was “The Outermost House,” for chorus, soprano soloist, narrator and small instrumental ensemble, by Ronald Perera. This lovely work is a setting of the glowing prose of Henry Beston, from his book which recounts the year spent by the author dwelling in a small Cape Cod beach house. The book is a masterpiece of highly evocative nature writing, full of wonderful word pictures and impressions, which Perera beautifully enhanced with his music.

William Warfield, hale and ever-impressive at 81, narrated with dignity and feeling. Alison Chaney’s lovely soprano was a delight. The net effect was that of a masterful tone-painting in praise of one of the world’s very special places.

The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, 6/3/01

When he is on form, Ronald Perera is among the finest living combiners of words and music alive. The major work here, The Outermost House, is as fine as the best pieces on the CRI disc. Writing on a commission from the Chatham Chorale of Cape Cod, Perera was persuaded to take as his text excerpts from The Outermost House by Henry Beston, which recounts the experience of living for a year in a two-room cottage on the barrier beach in 1925-26. Perera sets his excerptsfor narrator, soprano, chorus, and a small orchestra. With one exception, the odd-number movements are for the narrator (again the very musical Robert J. Lurtsema) while the even numbers are usually for the chorus with and without the soprano (the radiant Nancy Armstrong). As I mentioned in my earlier review, as Perera entered the 90s his idiom was becoming progressively more tonal in orientation. This is also to be found here. The music is simply lovely. Perera’s exquisite ability to set English words is everywhere in evidence as well as his extreme sensitivity to instrumental and vocal color put to service in a text. This is a major addition to the choral repertoire. For choirs able to field the modest additional forces required it should become something of a staple of their repertoire. Albany has put us in their considerable debt by making this marvelous music available to the larger CD-buying public in such a fine performance and recording.

John Story, Fanfare Magazine, May/June 1999 (review of Albany Troy CD 314)

Elegantly crafted, musically appealing, and stirring to the imagination as well as to the heart… Perera has created a musical setting that is more than just worthy of Beston’s masterpiece. It is a work that deserves to be heard often and not just on Cape Cod.

Cape Cod Times 11/18/91

Perera’s music supported graceful vocal writing with warm, embracing sonorities, vibrant rhythms, and (often a distinctive feature of his composition) effectively pictorial use of percussion. The succession of scenes hung together by virtue of returning motives or accompaniment figures which provided clear musical links between sections. The variety in its modes of expression always provided engagement for the ear. Perera had constructed a musical setting perfectly conceived for the diaristic nature of his chosen text, reflecting a barrage of stimuli being interpreted, ordered, and set forth by a single intellect.

Springfield (MA) Union-News 2/18/92

Although wisps of Samuel Barber, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Vincent Persichetti can be heard, Perera’s compositional style is fluent and singular… The last chorus, “Hold Out Your Hands over the Earth,” is a real tour de force. More tonal than the other movements, its universal theme makes it performable as a fine independent work.

Choral Journal 3/94

Perera’s emphasis on the essential elements of melody and harmony — the stuff of which all truly affecting music is made — provides the ideal chamber for the artistic amplification of Beston’s eloquent reflections on nature, compiled during a year spent alone on a Cape Cod beach. While the music is not based strictly on functional principles (standard chord progressions contained within a given key), it is woven persuasively out of the fabric of traditional triadic harmony and unified through the recurrence of seminal motives and key centers. The product is a persuasive marriage of form and content.

Milwaukee Sentinel 2/28/94

The combination of narrative and musical effects make “The Wreck of the Montclair” portion of “Outermost House” a truly powerful experience. Listeners last weekend actually felt the impact of the huge waves and the terror of their fury through Mr. Lurtsema’s dramatic reading of the events that took place in 1927 on a lone stretch of Atlantic beach. We were transported back in time to watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolded. We felt the terror of the sailors caught in an inescapable death trap as the ship was pounded to pieces in the tumultuous surf.

“The Outermost House” remains as a sort of lone witness to both the power and inscrutability of nature. After the tempest, Mr. Perera brought us back to the gentle ebb and flow of life at the beach, and the chorale gave a sublime rendering of the final “Hold Out Your Hands.” We were left with a wonderful sense of acceptance and peace.

The Cape Codder 10/17/95

SATB and Brass quintet, timpani and organ

Composed for the 100th anniversary of St. John’s Church, Northampton, MA.

Reviews:

This sophisticated setting will require solid brass players. Their music is well crafted and included for optional use by the organ in the absence of brass. The choir parts are challenging, but have been structured so that exposed lines occur in two unison parts, making them easier. Excellent music for advanced choirs. Brass parts are available separately from the publisher.

The Diapason, November 1998

Score Sample: