#4960, With Pete M. Wyer and the Queens College Vocal Ensemble
Hear choral music by London composer Pete M. Wyer and his Street Motets for New York City, performed live in the studio by the Queens College Vocal Ensemble, conducted by James John. Plus, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang’s poor hymnal, and music from Voces8.
The Queens College Vocal Ensemble, led by James John, performs the studio premiere of “Street Motet No. 1” for New York City by London composer Pete M. Wyer. The work was commissioned by Make Music New York to be performed on the streets of New York as part of the annual Make Music New York festivities on the Summer and Winter Solstices. The performance is coordinated with a synchronized headphone system as the vocalists move through space. In 2024, small groups of six singers, totalling almost 50 people, walked and sang simultaneously at points throughout Greenwich Village and East Village, crossing into Washington Square Park, culminating at the Astor Place cube.
Then, riffing on kindness and what makes a community - and how we take care of each other is also an idea behind David Lang’s poor hymnal. Listen to selections in a recording by the Philadelphia-based choir, The Crossing, where text comes from Barack Obama, Mahatma Gandhi, Psalms, and Leo Tolstoy. Also, listen to some of M. Wyer's New Sounds Live commission, “Song of the Human," a work for both birdsong and human voices, featuring Philadelphia-based choir, The Crossing, from the New Sounds Live concert series recorded at Brookfield Place New York in 2016. Plus music from Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble Voces8. - Caryn Havlik
“Street Motet No. 1" is a meditation with the text of:
May I be filled with loving-kindness
May I be Well
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy
And then it's repeated but 'I' becomes 'you'
Then Motet No 2, “Whatever Happens Next” (which we all agreed on the show was not technically a motet) the words are:
whatever happens next
bring love into the world
whatever comes next
bring kindness to the world
don’t give up hope
or if it’s too late for that
plant the seeds of new hope for tomorrow
whatever cause you have for scorn
bring kindness to the world instead
when tempers rage, when anger reigns
choose to reply with reckless grace
for every bit of ugliness thrown on the day
be the first in line to throw back beauty
whatever blind injustice breaks your heart
whatever fury breaks upon your shore
be the one who brings some peace back to the world
every time we return love for hate
the reservoir is refilled a little
and love wins
whatever happens next
you’re never on your own
despite how it feels sometimes
plant the hardy flower of hope in your backyard
or better still behind the ugly gas station
don’t believe the troubled voice
that says we’re doomed and all is lost
there’s plenty of good to be found still in the world;
be part of it
in a thousand small actions
in a single word
in one defiant moment
whatever happens next
keep this promise:
trust that your one unseen gesture
will ripple out through darkness to unknown shores
and whatever comes next
hope will never be lost
Program #4960, With Pete M. Wyer and the Queens College Vocal Ensemble
ARTIST: The Crossing
WORK: David Lang: poor hymnal [1:00]
RECORDING: David Lang: poor hymnal
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: https://davidlangmusic.bandcamp.com/album/poor-hymnal
ARTISTS: The Crossing, Donald Nally, conductor
THE WORK: Pete M. Wyer: Song of the Human 6. For Now, and only for now [4:37]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Brookfield Place, 10/12/2016
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.pmwmusic.com
ARTISTS: Queens College Vocal Ensemble | James John, conductor
THE WORK: Pete M. Wyer: Street Motet No. 1 [10:16]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, 12/18/24
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://makemusicny.org | https://www.pmwmusic.com
ARTISTS: Queens College Vocal Ensemble | James John, conductor
THE WORK: Pete M. Wyer: "Whatever Happens Next" (Street Motet No. 2) [4:22]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, 12/18/24
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://makemusicny.org | https://www.pmwmusic.com
ARTIST: The Crossing
WORK: David Lang: prayer for kindness [3:19]
RECORDING: David Lang: poor hymnal
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: https://davidlangmusic.bandcamp.com/album/poor-hymnal
ARTIST: The Crossing
WORK: David Lang: all who are hungry [3:37]
RECORDING: David Lang: poor hymnal
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: https://davidlangmusic.bandcamp.com/album/poor-hymnal
ARTIST: Voces 8
WORK: Jung Jae-Il, 01 Psalm 22.21 [1:30]
RECORDING: Nightfall
SOURCE: Decca
INFO: https://voces8.lnk.to/Nightfall
ARTIST: Voces 8
WORK: Caroline Shaw: and the swallow [3:42]
RECORDING: Nightfall
SOURCE: Decca
INFO: https://voces8.lnk.to/Nightfall
