American Journey
SDG 05-101 Rental
Mixed Chorus and Orchestra 2221, 3421, Percussion I, II, III, Timpani, Piano, Strings. 35’ 100 pgs.
(Choral scores available for purchase)

Six of Berkey’s mixed chorus original works and arrangements are expanded with full symphony orchestra in this glorious “Americana” statement of our history and heritage. The collection was prepared for a MidAmerica Productions Carnegie Hall concert in June, 2005. The choral parts are neatly grouped in a separate publication available for puuchase. Conductor’s score and parts are available on rental or for purchase. Contact Masters Music for complete information.

Titles: Sacramento Sis Joe • Silent Tents • Tenting Tonight • Amazing Grace • Hold On • Black is the Colour

Anniversary Carols

Jackson Berkey’s Anniversary Carols are as unusual as they are familiar. Using surprises in rhythm, meter, voicing, instruments and harmonies, the composer brings a refreshing sparkle to the familiar melodies, presenting audiences with songs that are at once dear and traditional, yet delightfully new again. Jackson Berkey’s collection of Christmas carol and hymn arrangements were originally presented as anniversary gifts to his lady, Almeda, music director of Nebraska’s Professional Chorale, Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum.

Anniversary Carols Book
SDGM 99-100 $10.95
Mixed Chorus, a cappella and accompanied 44.20’ 104 pgs.

This collection includes all ten of the Anniversary Carols and Harp Interludes, as recorded by Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum on their Cantorum Christmas! CD. Offered by the publisher especially for those wishing to perform all of the carols.

Anniversary Carols Parts
SDG PARTS 99-100 $25.00
Harp, Bass, and Percussion parts set for all ten Anniversary Carols

Titles also available separately:

I. Angels We Have Heard On High
SDG 91-101 $1.25
Mixed Chorus, a cappella 2’ 8 pgs.

Angels We Have Heard on High is one of America’s most beloved carols. It comes to us from the French countryside where it emerged anonymously as a macaronic carol (that is, with a text a mélange of Latin and vernacular French,) probably in the 1700s, called Les angel dans nos campagnes. Jackson Berkey’s arrangement is strikingly individual, with its particular non-strophic handling of the text.

II. O Come All Ye Faithful
(Adeste Fidelis)
SDG 91-102 Mixed Chorus $1.25
SDG 03-404 Male Chorus
a cappella, opt. Tambour, Finger cymbals 3’ 8 pgs.

O Come, All Ye Faithful is probably the most popular Christmas hymn (as distinguished from carol) in America. Although its origins remained obscure for more than two centuries, this originally Latin hymn (Adeste Fideles) can now be attributed with certainty to John Francis Wade (1711-1786), a teacher of music who specialized in copying plainchant for use in chapels and homes of prominent families in France. It was translated into English by the Rev. Frederick Oakley in 1842 and was first printed in Murray’s Hymnal in 1852 in England. Jackson Berkey has a lively arrangement, with a striking treatment of the refrain.

III. Jesu, Son Most Sweet And Dear
WW 1160 (Walton Music) $1.25
Mixed Chorus, Mezzo-Soprano Solo, Harp 4’ 8 pgs.

Jesu, Son Most Sweet and Dear is a centuries old anonymous English poem. Colin Brumby, an Australian composer and teacher at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, found it in an 1866 edition of Political, Religious and Love Poems collected by F.J. Furniwall of The Early English Text Society. Jackson Berkey’s arrangement of Brumby’s 1977 setting is hauntingly beautiful.