‘The Pasture’ is song 2 in Frostiana, Randall Thompson’s settings of poems by Robert Frost. It is scored for tenors, baritones, and basses. The tenors split in each verse, so I have created tenor 1 and tenor 2 parts. All the pieces include the piano interludes. The tempo is a dotted quarter = 60 in the 6/8 parts, and a quarter = 60 in the 4/4 parts.
The first song in Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, settings for the poems of Robert Frost. The chorus sings the first two verses of the poem in unison and break into five individual parts (the basses divide) beginning with the third verse. To facilitate learning the parts, the Lalas sing each part individually starting at the top of page 9 (measure 28). So they will sing “’bout the same,” ending verse two, and then begin verse three and sing to the end. They also sing five versions all the way through, with one part emphasized, and of course the whole banana. In all parts, I upped the tempo of the piano interlude preceding the final phrase. I once heard it done that way, and it worked.
The whole banana: .
Set 1, individual parts, beginning at measure 28, top of page 9.
The sixth song in Frostiana, poems by Robert Frost set to music by Randall Thompson. This setting of ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is performed by tenors, baritones, and basses. The Lalas sing the whole thing and versions for each part by itself and with one part emphasized. The pieces include the piano introduction and interludes, but not the final instrumental section. We may not hear it until the actual performance :-). All pieces are at concert tempo, 84 quarter notes per minute.
Song 4 in “Frostiana”, settings by Randall Thompson for poems of Robert Frost. The Lalas sing the whole thing, and then sing it for each of the seven parts, in two sets. In both sets, all the men sing in the girls’ pieces, and vice versa. All pieces include the piano interludes. In the first set, each part sings separately, at a slow tempo. In the second set, one part is emphasized over the others, and the tempos are concert. I think it might be easier to learn the long phrases in the men’s parts at the faster tempo.
Also: it helps to think of this song as a musical comedy number, with Gene Kelly and a few chorus boys, all wearing coveralls and big grins, singing to Cyd Charisse and a few other lovelies wearing gingham dresses.
The whole banana. .
Set 1. Individual parts, tempo about 90 quarter notes per minute.
This menu lists a couple of the songs the Peninsula Singers will perform in the Fall 2016 concerts, November 19th and 20th.
For the Mozart Vespers, we have the excellent renditions in Cyber-Bass. The Frostiana pieces are performed by the La-La singers and Shoot, the piano player. The latter include one-part-only and one-part-emphasized versions. Song 2, ‘The Pasture,’ will be available soon, and then the ladies’ pieces.
Click on a song to access its sing-a-long versions. You can get back to this menu via the Fall 2016 menu or via the list, which is usually below the songs.
UpDeerParkRoad 