Six works were "transferred" from the famous symphonies into a cappella works. Latin text gives a mystic atmosphere. Human voices directly replace instrumental parts; therefore, the range of pitches and the
Chris Artley's a cappella setting of "Agnus Dei", features a slow, hauntingly beautiful melody, sung first by sopranos and then by baritones, accompanied by lush harmony infused with jazz chords, from the
This piece is one of the songs included in the Ko Matsushita's choral collection "Asia no kodomo uta" (Asian Children's Songs). There are various ways of singing "Arirang" and the composer endeavored to
Ko Matsushita composed this piece especially for young singers. He expects his song to be sung joyfully in the Latin music rhythms while feeling close the presence of Mary, Mother of God. The piece was
The piece has been inspired by the Ave Maria of Giuseppe Verdi, who was among the first composers to adopt the Enigmatic scale, which was in turn coined by Adolfo Crescentini in 1888. This musical scale is
Hideki Chihara composed this piece imagining a scene of the temple festivals in the ancient times. A string, the sound of which was thought to have a miraculously spiritual power, was an object to which a
The poem describes the landscape of sea and mountains in the Kumamoto prefecture. Composer Kitagawa gave this song a gentle and warm harmony. Even though the piece should be considered as a song dedicated
Takatomi Nobunaga selected five poems and set them to music by using the original language. Four of the five chosen poems are British that were written in the 19th century, and the fifth is a modern
The text is based on the words of junior high school students who were forced out of their home town by the nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The music was written by their
This song was born as a result of the friendship between the composer Ko Matsushita and Reiko Ito who wrote the poem. "Here Now" was accepted very well and later offered to the "Sing for Japan", a campaign
Ko Matsushita has already set many poems of Naoko Kudo into music. The unaccompanied songs express the pureness and vividness of the poems. This choral suite should be performed with the sonority full of
The original poems were written by Shuntaro Tanikawa, one of the greatest poets in Japan. With the sound, Ko Matsushita aimed to express the images of the Tokyo city and the vigor and emptiness of the
This song was composed for the "Harmony for Japan Choral Collection" anthology, a tribute to Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Ken taro Sato wrote the lyrics and music. Peaceful melody reminds
Note from the Composer: I made an attempt in composing these choral songs. The attempt is rather a adventurous one in vocal music work in general. And you will find ornamental figuration as experimental
Matsuura completed this "Requiem" to express her condolences to those who suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake. The piece reminds Durufle's or Faure's "Requiem". The work's beautiful music will
These are arrangements of Mozart's "Requiem" and "Ave Verum Corpus" for two or three female voices and piano. There are plenty of ways to approach the way of singing this arrangement: with two or three
Texts full of pathos, humor and ambivalence are used in this song cycle. In these pieces, words and music sometimes compete with each other; sometimes they merge. They seem, at first, to be the opposites
This piece is one of the milestones of Ko Matsushita's music. The poem was written by Naoko Kudo. While listening to the songs, people can see blue skies, white clouds, and golden sunshine. This a cappella
In composing this suite, Ko Matsushita was strongly influenced by unaccompanied Hungarian and Scandinavian works for choirs. The composer hopes his work could assist choirs to develop their listening skills