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Listen to a RealAudio (G2) stream of a performance of this work by CONCORA, Richard Coffey, conductor.
Download an MP3 file of a performance of this work by CONCORA, Richard Coffey, conductor.
(a CD recording is available from CONCORA)
Download an MP3 file of a performance of this work by the Whitman College Chamber Singers, Robert Bode, conductor.
Download a PDF file of the poetry used in this work as text for printing in concert programs.
The text for White Horses is adapted from the E. E. Cummings poem, "after all white horses are in bed..." The composer has selected as lyrics several lines of the poem which suggest imagery of a knight on a white horse, the lady (on her pedestal) who is worshipped from afar, and nighttime ("after all white horses are in bed"). This choral work may be interpreted as a love song hearkening back to the days of the Troubadours. Thus, the piano introduction (in high range) might function to transport the listener away from present day reality and into night and the past.
Notes by the composer