recordings featuring arrangements and vocal recordings by Stephen Saxon.
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All arrangements and performances (c)(p)2001-2016 Stephen Saxon
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All Voices |
| Ave Maria (Biebl) | This is a slightly modified version of Franz Biebl's famous Ave Maria. He lived from 1906 to 2001 but he wrote this in a very romantic and almost hyper tonal style that gives it a very classic feeling. | `
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| Ave Maria (Josquin) | This version of Josquin des Pres' famous Ave Maria is pretty close to the original, written in the late 1400's. |
| Deo Gratias (Ockeghem) | This is Johannes Ockeghem's (not quite as) famous 36 voice motet of praise written in the 1400's and first published in 1568. Ockeghem was an influence on Josquin des Pres. |
| Shto Mi E Milo | A Macedonian folk song about how nice it would be to have a shop in the town of Struga so one could be able to watch the pretty young ladies go fetch water and visit by the well. I learned this song from my friends in Kitka. |
| How Can I Keep From Singing? | An arrangement I wrote of a traditional song in praise of music and its power to uplift even during times of great difficulty. |
| Plenary | A song from the Sacred Harp tradition (full-voiced, four part singing), this is a meditation on that equalizer of all people, the grave. This is also the melody traditionally used to sing Robert Burns' poem, Auld Lang Syne. |
| Coventry Carol | This is my favorite Christmas song of all. I've combined a more ancient setting (3 voices, varied meter) with a more common modern setting (four parts, triple meter) in this version. |
| Lo, How A Rose | This is another of my favorite Christmas songs, and it's also a combination of two separate settings. The first is a fairly ancient canon (round) of the original melody, and the second is based on the more common modern setting. |
| Auld Lang Syne | This is my arrangement of the Tannehill Weavers' melody for Robert Burns' famous poem. I learned this version of the song from a performance by the wonderful Celtic singer, Susan McKeown. |
| Mi Shebeirach | This is my arrangement of Debbie Friedman's song based on the Mi Shebeirach prayer. This is a prayer for healing and her version has become the most commonly heard setting for the prayer on record and in services. |
| Amazing Grace | This is an arrangement I wrote when I first started exploring multi-track a cappella recording with an 8-track digital recorder. At that time I was also exploriing the technique commonly known as "throat singing" or multi-phonic singing, which I employed at the beginning and at the end. |
| Hin'ni | This is my arrangement of Hazzan Israel Reich's setting of the Hin'ni prayer. This prayer is recited by the cantor (hazzan) at the beginning of the musaf service of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In it, the cantor states his or her case for being in a position to lead the congregation in prayer and asks God to hear and answer those prayers. |
| Make You Feel My Love | This is the only arrangement in this collection that uses instruments. But in maintaining the same spirit, I'm singing and playing all parts. It features tuba, trumpets, flugelhorn, alto horns, and some vocal trombone sections to go along with the lead and background voices. I think this is the first time I've actually created brass sections using the same recording techniques I've used to create all of the choral ensembles in the rest of these recordings. |
