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Listen to a RealAudio (G2) stream of a performance of this work by the Middletown Chorale, Larry Allen, conductor.
Download an an MP3 file of a performance of this work by the Middletown Chorale, Larry Allen, conductor.
Download a PDF file of the choral score of this composition. For perusal only -- not printable.
The Silver Apples of the Moon uses as text the poem by William Butler Yeats, "The Song of Wandering Aengus." The title of the song is taken from the closing lines of the poem:
and walk among long dappled grass,
and pluck till time and times are done
the silver apples of the moon,
the golden apples of the sun.
Silver Apples is an SSA/piano adaptation of the original scoring for the "Tres Voces" Ensemble of Hartford, CT: Tenor, Countertenor, Baritone and Guitar. Therefore, the piano accompaniment in the newer version is light and guitaristic in nature.
The opening section of the song alternates in meter between 2/4 and 3/4 to create a free-flowing texture for the dreamlike lyrics. The middle section features rapid accompaniment figures which arrive with the words, "It had become a glimmering girl..." At the end, the chorus recites on pitch the words "the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun" in overlapping patterns suggestive of ripples on the surface of a pond, or perhaps, as the lyrics describe, dropping a berry into a stream.
Notes by the composer