recordings featuring arrangements and vocal recordings by Stephen Saxon.
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All arrangements and performances (c)(p)2001-2010 Stephen Saxon
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All Voices |
| Deo Gratias (Ockeghem) | This piece by Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497) can be consdidered as being set as of four nine-part sections or nine individual quartets.
I decided to record and mix it as nine quartets, but I added a section at the beginning where all nine voices in each section
sing their polyphony as a combined four-part statement of the composition.
Then at around 0:58 it breaks down into quartets and continues as the score originally shows it.
As with most of the recordings on this site, I am singing all parts and there is no "auto-tune" being used at any time. This was recorded and mixed in November, 2010. |
Shto Mi E Milo | This is a famous Macedonian song, in the traditional style of women's vocal music from that area.
The text speaks of how nice it is to sit in front of one's store (in the town of Struga) and watch the beautiful women walk by on their way to fetch water. This was recorded and mixed in February, 2010. |
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| Plenary C.M. | This is a song from the Sacred Harp hymnal, page 162 (1991 edition). The text is by Isaac Watts (1709) and the original arrangement was by A.C. Clark (1839). I have edited the arrangement a bit, but I have tried to maintain the character of the original Sacred Harp / Shape Note full-voice tradition, while adapting that to my own vocal abilities and limitations.
The melody is familiar to many as "Auld Lang Syne" when sung with the lyrics written around 1788 by Robert Burns. The melody, however, seems to predate that by a good bit. This is but one traditional setting of the melody to a poem, and the recording of Auld Lang Syne (below) is but one of the melodies to which that poem has been set over the years. I particularly like the fact that many of the songs in the Sacred Harp hymnal (the "Sacred Harp" is the human voice) refer not so much to religious subjects, but to universal subjects of the human condition, including (as in this case) the common experience of death and burial, no matter what one's station in life might be. This was recorded and (preliminarily) mixed on February 8 - 9, 2009. Though I hadn't originally intended to do so, it reaches even little lower at the end than "How Can I Keep From Singing." [1.7 MB] |
| How Can I Keep From Singing | This is based on an arrangement I wrote in 2004 for five parts. In this recording I've modified it to add more voices, and to broaden the ensemble to a choir instead of solo parts. It also takes advantage of a vocal technique I've been working on to extend the bottom of my low range. The final chord has a few tracks of a low F, which is the lowest note I've recorded to date. This technique has opened up at least a major third of extra range on the bottom for me (beyond a my normal low A) and I'm pretty pleased with the results here. This was recorded and mixed on December 31, 2008 and January 1, 2009. Happy New Year! [1.6 MB] |
| Mi Shebeirach | Here is a setting for choir and cantor of Debbie Friedman's composition. I originally arranged this for the 2006 High Holy Days services when I was working with a wonderful professional chamber choir and music director. I finished this recording in late 2008 [1.3 MB] |
| Amazing Grace | Amazing Grace (traditional) Arranged by Stephen Saxon (c)(p) 2001. This recording features a technique of throat singing at the beginning and ending. [3.6 MB] |
| Ave Maria (Josquin) | This is a piece I first sang when I was a member of Chanticleer. It's still one of my favorite pieces of Renaissance vocal music. [5.5 MB] |
| Avinu Malkeinu | Avinu Malkeinu composed by Max Janowski; arrangement edited by Stephen Saxon. This recording is from 2007 and features an organ accompaniment, as originally set by Janowski. I've changed the key and modified the text for modern liturgical use. [2 MB] |
| Who By Fire | This is a combination of Leonard Cohen's Who By Fire with the paragraph that inspired it, B'Rosh Hashana/Mi Yihyeh.
This version, premiered at High Holy Day services in 2006,
has the lead (Cantor) singing Cohen's reinterpretation as the chorus recites the original Hebrew paragraph.
In the third verse, their roles are reversed and the choir takes Cohen's English lyrics and the lead sings the remainder of the Hebrew.
Stephen's arrangement was inspired by Eric Freeman's arrangement for the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, which was inspired by a performance by A Conspiracy Of Beards, a San Francisco group specializing in a cappella performances of Leonard Cohen's music. This recording is from 2007. [1.7 MB] |
| Auld Lang Syne | This is a melody I learned from Susan McKeown and it was probably composed by the Tannahill Weavers
The recording is from 2001 [2 MB] |
