Critical Reviews and Annotations

Holocaust Cantata: Songs from the Camps

(World Premiere, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC)

A 40-minute work for mixed chorus, soprano and bass soloists, piano, cello, and narrators, Holocaust Cantata immortalized tunes written by prisoners in WWII concentration camps. Of the world premiere of Holocaust Cantata, Washington Post music critic Joseph McClellan wrote:

"Voices from the past filled the Kennedy Center last night—not muted voices, but vibrant, engaging ones, deeply involved with life, although most of the people represented are long dead. It was the world premiere of Holocaust Cantata, a cycle of songs and spoken prose written by prisoners in Nazi concentration camps selected and arranged by Donald McCullough from material archived at the Holocaust Museum…. The people in the camps were vividly evoked in an experience that should linger long in the audience’s memory and should be regularly revived, perhaps in an annual concert at the Holocaust Museum.”

Since its premiere, Holocaust Cantata has been featured in The New York Times and on CNN and has received over 250 performances throughout the world to critical acclaim.

Canite Tuba: A Christmas Triptych

(World Premiere, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington, DC, Commissioned by the Master Chorale of Washington in honor of Jean M. Riddell)

A 17-minute, three movement work written for mixed chorus, brass, percussion and organ, Canite Tuba is a setting of three Latin texts representing the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Of its world premiere, Washington Post music critic Joe Banno wrote:

“…the three-movement work made an arresting impact, thanks in no small part to McCullough's evocative writing for brass and percussion ensemble.”

Of a Choral Society of Durham performance of Canite Tuba in Duke Chapel, music critic Ken Hoover of the online arts journal Classical Voice of North Carolina wrote:

“[Each of the works three movements] were mystically beautiful in their own right. Dakin's [program] notes describe McCullough's work: ‘The first movement opens with a choral proclamation and trumpet fanfares, followed by a jagged, syncopated section on the text 'erunt prava in directa' ('the crooked will become straight'), and closes with a dramatic plea for the Lord to come. The mystical atmosphere of 'Verbum caro factum est' is established by the hushed, sustained accompaniment and chant-like vocal lines that build to an ecstatic climax on the word 'gloriam.' The final movement's proclamatory introduction gives way to a joyous, playful fugal section on the text 'et gloria Domini super te orta est' (‘and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’).’ Alleluia, indeed!"

Let My People Go: A Spiritual Journey along the Underground Railroad

(World Premiere, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington, DC)

A 75-minute work for mixed chorus, SATB soloists, piano, bass, percussion and narrators, Let My People Go celebrates the African-American spiritual while exploring the coded language buried within spiritual texts that helped slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. Of the Let My People Go! performance by Don McCullough’s Master Chorale of Washington joined by Eric Conway’s Morgan State University Choir, Edith Billups of The Washington Informer wrote:

“…a moving 75-minute work that hauntingly explored the history of the Underground Railroad and its connection to the African-American spiritual, aptly blending storytelling, lyrics and sound…. If McCullough is to be commended for any one aspect of this impressive work, it is the thought and care with which he has given to both the music and the spoken word.”

Of the same performance, Grace Dean of the Washington Post wrote:

“…a powerful and heart-wrenching premiere.”

Of the performance by Tom Hall’s Baltimore Choral Arts Society joined by Eric Conway’s Morgan State University Choir and Linda R. Hall’s Baltimore City College Concert Choir, Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun wrote:

“Musically, the rewards began with McCullough's richly textured arrangements and continued with the superbly responsive articulation of the combined choruses, which hit a compelling height in a sizzling ‘Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel.’ A remarkably instructional and inspirational afternoon.”

Let My People Go has experienced repeat performances by several choruses throughout the country, including four performances that were part of the Inaugural Activities of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Psalm 150

(World Premiere, Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield, MA, Commissioned the Berkshire Choral Festival, Frank Nemhauser, music director)

Upon inviting Don to return to the BCF as a guest conductor and present several of his own choral works, the Berkshire Choral Festival also commissioned him to write a 7-minute setting of Psalm 150 for chorus and orchestra. In a review of Psalm 150’s world premiere, John Felton of the Berkshire Eagle wrote:

“The Psalm 150 is an ideal text for a composer, with its references to cymbals, trumpets, stringed instruments and organs, and its theme of joyous praise to God. McCullough made effective use of the musical references without being too obvious about it. The trumpets did sound, when called upon by the text, as did the cymbals and the strings, but the impact was natural, not forced simply to make a point.

The ending of the piece does make a powerful point, however. First on a quiet note, the closing lines, "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord, Praise ye the Lord," built to a monumental finish that surely got the Lord's attention and brought many audience members to their feet, the latter being a rarity for a contemporary work.”

Contraries: The Human Condition

(World Premiere, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA, Commissioned by The San Francisco Choral Society, Robert Geary, music director)

Written for mixed chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra, Contraries is a 25-minute work in six movements that uses the arresting imagery of William Blake’s poetry to portray the difficult balancing of the “contraries” within human nature.Critic Paul Hertelendy of artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance, wrote of Contraries in an online review entitled “Blake Poems in a Gratifying Choral Premiere”:

“[McCullough’s] 25-minute Contraries: The Human Condition was cleverly based on the arresting imagery of poet William Blake: three upbeat pastoral poems, then three of much darker moods. Of the latter, ‘The Garden of Love’ was the most startling, showing that, however spiritual, Blake was strongly critical of established religion stomping through his landscapes. …McCullough comes to life in ‘The Garden of Love’ and its somber sequels, with a mobile type of music, like swells in the ocean, suffused with genteel chromaticism and modulation. His interweaving of choral voices was highly effective in ‘The Sick Rose,’ dominated by the modality of minor thirds, and introduced through a sterling clarinet solo. In the brass and percussion tumult of the ‘Poison Tree’ finale, McCullough brings in syncopation reminiscent of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.”

Jesse Hamlin of the San Francisco Classical Voice wrote the following upon interviewing Bob Geary, music director and conductor of the commissioning organization of Contraries, the San Francisco Choral Society:

“McCullough...composed a six-movement work for chorus and soprano soloist, set to poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. When McCullough first proposed the idea, Geary was a bit disappointed, as he prefers new works that draw on contemporary poets. So much music has been set to Blake that Geary was hoping ‘for something new,’ he says. ‘That being said, he did do something new: He explored some of the darker material in Songs of Innocence and Experience. Most composers who set Blake to music tend to focus on the happy stuff, like ‘The Blossom’ and ‘The Laughing Song,’ Geary says. McCullough uses those poems, too, but he also delves into the darkness of ‘A Poison Tree’ and ‘The Sick Rose.’

Geary describes the music as ‘rhythmic and dramatic…the harmonic language is contemporary but tonal.’ ‘{McCullough],’ he adds, ‘is not trying to do something soothing and entertaining. He’s being provocative. That’s the primary responsibility of real art. He’s challenging us to reflect on part of human nature as expressed by Blake and through the music.’”