As the Deer Longs
(opus 42)CH-1115
Review from The Church Music Report, November, 1994
Laurendale Associates has sent me some exciting octavos. Included are six choral masterworks for SAB choir and one for two-part. These include How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place (Brahms), The Heavens are Telling (Haydn), The Heavens Resound (Beethoven), As the Deer Longs (Mendelssohn), Awake the Trumpets' Lofty Sound (Handel), Blessed Jesu, Fount of Mercy (Dvorak), and The Shepherd's Farewell (Berlioz). Small choirs wanting to do the classics will appreciate these arrangements, BUT THERE IS MORE. All of these numbers are available on General MIDI (GM) Performance-
Accompaniment (P/A) disks.
Review from the Sacred Music News & Review, October, 1994
Laurendale Associates has just released the Choral Masterworks for Small Choirs (CMSC) series, and SMN&R had the opportunity to review this interactive software. I am impressed! These pieces are not only complete in themselves and may be performed by any choir with keyboard accompaniment in the usual manner, but they have MIDI accompaniment sequences available, all seven on one disk! Since MIDI is practically standard design with contemporary organ designers (Please, no letters from tracker-action organ purists!), this new option will be very interesting to many church musicians. If you have an older organ, as we do at our church, you may be considering adding an extra MIDI keyboard to your existing instrument, as we are. In any event, the use of MIDI will be with us for a long time.
Laurendale Interactive Software is the first publishing company that I am aware of that is providing this application of software for printed music. Even though the Laurendale software can be used "as is," the sequences are intended to be a starting place for the performing artist. The essentials are there. The artist is free to augment the sound selections.
Our thanks to Laurendale Associates for the excellent review package, and good luck in this leadership work.
As the Deer Longs
(opus 42) SAB, by Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn's setting of Psalm 42 here is refined, controlled, and melodious.
Review from the Music Workshops International "In Concert", October, 1994
As you are probably aware, nearly all contemporary organ manufacturers now incorporate the use of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) into their designs. Churches with older organs are either retrofitting their existing instrument with MIDI or adding an extra MIDI keyboard as a separate piece of equipment. In any event, the use of MIDI is here to stay! LAURENDALE INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, a division of Laurendale Associates (publisher), is in the forefront of this emerging technology by providing software that is user-friendly and has the widest application. Their standard is Type 1, General MIDI (GM) files, with customization available for system-exclusive applications.
Laurendale's new choral series, CHORAL MASTERWORKS FOR SMALL CHOIRS are complete in themselves and may be performed by any choir with keyboard accompaniment in the usual manner, but they also have MIDI accompaniment sequences available.
It is important to note that while these MIDI accompaniment disks can be used "as is", the sequences are intended to be a starting place for the performing artist. The essentials, such as pitches, tempi and basic dynamics are included, together with initial General MIDI sound selections. The artist is free and encouraged to augment the sound selections, and change any or all specified program parameters to suit his or her music taste.
As a guiding principle, if you want a trumpet sound, hire a trumpet player. If you want a trumpet effect, program a General MIDI trumpet and couple it to any other GM sound or organ stop, dictated by your own musical taste, imagination and integrity.