THE JEAN-SÉBASTIEN VALLÉE SERIES
including the Toronto Mendelssohn Collection

by Christopher Ducasse

SATB with piano – CP 2064 – duration 2:45
SSA with piano – CP 2224

This classic text from the mass has been set by many composers for centuries. Christopher brings a grandeur to the text with long melodic lines in sweet spot vocal registers – very approachable.  The music has an impressive build to a golden-mean climax. The piano accompaniment flows and supports the singers. Singers and listeners will love this contribution to the music world.

by Kelly-Marie Murphy

SATB – cappella – CP 2342 – duration 3:20
“By-By Lullaby is a quiet and contemplative piece with extended harmonies.”

by William Kraushaar

SSATBB with organ, piano or harpsichord – CP 2123 – duration 3:05
SSATBB a cappella  – CP 2126

This is a powerful setting of the classic text, in baroque style for six parts. The accompaniment drives the counterpoint forward.  The a cappella version is slower and more poignant so that the singers can make more of the stress and release moments. (dissonance to consonance)

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato:
Passus, et sepultus est.

He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate:
He suffered and was buried.

by Joannie Ing

SATB with organ or piano – CP 2066 – 5:05

Dear friend, I’ve news with you to share
Reason for hope, reason to care
When you feel down, deep in despair
He sees you cry and hears your prayer

by William Kraushaar

SATB with organ/piano – CP 2158 – duration 3:35

Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. Simeon, who had longed to see the Messiah before passing away said:

by William Kraushaar

SATB a cappella – CP 2149 – duration 2:45

You will love this joyful sound – resulting from a combination of up-tempo melody in 3/4 meter. Multiple entries, counterpoint, motivic imitation and sections of fugue; quality composition!

Hodie Christus natus est,
hodie Salvator apparuit;
hodie in terra canunt angeli,
laetantur archangeli;
hodie exsultant iusti, dicentes
Gloria in excelsis Deo.

by Nicholas Ma

SATB with piano– CP 2343 – duration 5:15

This is a thought-provoking piece that tackles difficult questions on A.I. in art and what it means to be a human in this technological age. Taking an ironic twist by using a fragmented poem generated by ChatGPT, the composer invites listeners to question if art will forever lose the human touch at this rate of advancement.

by Alastair Boyd

SATB a cappella – CP 1906 – duration 4:05

A Hymn on the Nativity is an a cappella SATB setting of words by English poet and playwright Ben Jonson. It won the 2020 Debbie Fleming Prize in Choral Composition awarded by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. In announcing the winning entry TMC associate conductor Simon Rivard, who led the three-member competition jury, mentioned the work’s “interesting choice of lyrics; richness of the harmony; and a good balance between variety and unity between verses.”

by Zachary Windus

SATB a cappella – CP 2070 – duration 3:55

The fifth annual TMC Choral Composition Competition asked emerging composers to submit a sacred or secular a cappella work for the Christmas season. The 2019 winner was this spirited carol by Zachary Windus.

by Jocelyn Morlock

SSAATTBB a cappella $3:25  CP 1741   – duration 6:35

Io, Io! portrays the joys that we experience, from brief moments of delight to a more transcendent, spiritual peace. The first section of Io, Io!, is a joyful celebration in an energetic, excited style, using an excerpt of Philipp Nicolai’s In dulci jubilo. The second section is a loose translation of Nicolai’s text that draws on 1 Cor. 2:9 – no one has seen or heard what God prepares for those who love him – these words are sung with increasing anticipation and hope. The final vocalise is an expression of joy connecting these ideas musically, suggesting that the joy that no one has yet seen or heard might be ours right now, connecting our fleeting joy living in this beautiful world to the joy of a perfect, eternal future.
Io, Io! is dedicated to Paula Kremer and the Vancouver Cantata Singers with admiration and gratitude.

Recording available: Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

by Jonathan Oldengarm

SATB a cappella – CP 2347 – duration 4:45

This arrangement was commissioned by Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée to commemorate the 130^th anniversary of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, founded by A.S. Vogt in 1894. The melody and verse 1 harmonization are Vogt’s own setting of Charles Wesley’s iconic hymn text, penned in 1740. The a cappella setting honours Vogt’s skill as a choir trainer; his singers at Jarvis Street Baptist (where he served from 1888-1906) were renowned for their unaccompanied singing. The fauxbourdon settings of verses 2, 3 and 4 are a tip of the hat to Vogt’s solid training in Leipzig, where he studied under the greats Salomon Jadassohn, Carl Reinecke, Adolf Ruthardt and others.

by Justin Lapierre

SATB a cappella – CP 2338 – duration 5:15

by Andrew Balfour

SATB with piano, organ, or strings – CP 2069   – duration 5:55
String parts are available with two options:
a) violas, cello and double bass
b) string quintet (2 violins, viola, cello and double bass)
“Mamachimowin (The act of singing praises) is a choral work that explores the difficult relationship between Indigenous spirituality and the impact of the Christian culture on First Nations people.  Translating Psalm 67 into Cree, I wanted to add a musical perspective that added a dimension of fragmentation into the structure of the work.  Also I wanted to utilize the instrumentation of violas, cellos and double basses to give the idea of the strings representing a foundation of the ground, or Mother Earth.  I wanted to present the idea of musical tension and musical phrases along with the choir whispering some of the text to add an element of uncertainty.  (Andrew Balfour)

by Andrew Balfour

SATB a cappella – CP 2068   – duration 4:35
This poem by the late Dominic Gregorio really touches the heart.
Listen to the performance by the amazing National Youth Choir of Canada.
Music is vibration, can you see it?
Sound is emotion, can you feel it?
Invisible, intangible
Yet touches deep within.

by William Kraushaar

SATB a cappella with fugue – CP 2059 – duration 5:55
SATB a cappella without fugue – CP 2060 – duration 3:05

In memory of the victims of the Québec City Mosque Shooting, 2017.

“Neither from the east, nor from the west,
Neither creed, nor culture,
Neither from the ocean, nor from the earth,
We are all members of one another,
And created from the same matter,
If a member is suffering,
Others will not know happiness.

by Benjamin Sigerson

SATB a cappella – CP 2058 – duration 4:35

Winner of the Debbie Fleming Prize hosted by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, this piece is a gentle song of comfort. Written also as a song of hope towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and as a song to remind of the importance of rest, and that rest is sometimes what we need more than we know. Setting the painterly poetry of j.h. Lee, the piece is part-impressionist, part-jazz, part-lullaby.

by Christopher Ducasse

SATB a cappella – CP 2428 – duration 5:15

O nata lux, de lumine,
Jesu redemptor saeculi,

O Light born of Light,
Jesus, redeemer of the world,

by Christopher Ducasse

SATB with piano – CP 2225 – duration 5:40
SSA with piano – CP 2225

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, 

by William Kraushaar

SATB a cappella – CP 2152 – duration 3:15

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Amen.