26 December 2007

Dear HPHS Concert Choir Alumni, Family Members, and Friends:

As many of you know by now, I have been working for some time to produce a CD set in tribute to Mr. Keith Sturdevant and the amazing concert choirs he produced at Highland Park High School in Michigan from 1954-1969. For those of you who did not receive my earlier announcement, this project all started when I recovered a couple of old reel-to-reel tapes of our 1966 and 1967 Spring Tour Concerts, purchased for me by my mother in my junior and senior years. I somehow acquired an old reel-to-reel player and listened to them. Halfway through the 1966 tape, I was reduced to tears. I could not believe what I was hearing. We, as mere high school kids, sang the rich and complex choral selections Mr. Studevant hoisted upon us as if we owned them. There was no backing down, just beautiful voices singing with precision and control. These tapes were converted to CD format and were distributed to some concert choir members spring and summer of 2007. (See First Announcement for details).

Since that first discovery, I have discovered more reel-to-reel tapes of our performances. I was invited to visit Mr. Sturdevant, now 86, on Drummond Island to celebrate the production of our first CD set. During that first visit, while touring his first house (now a guesthouse), I discovered more reel-to-reel tapes neatly stacked high in a closet, perhaps placed there by his beloved wife whom he lost a couple of years ago. Mr. Sturdevant was stunned because he says he didn’t even know they existed.

The newly discovered tapes include various concerts from 1963-1969, although regrettably the spring concerts for 1964 and 1968 are still missing. If you are aware of any tapes or LPs, I hope you will contact me with any information you may have. All of our recorded performances should be archived before it is too late.

The tapes do have some problems because they had been stored for many years in an unheated guesthouse. Furthermore, in some cases the recording of the performances was not up to professional standards. For example, the solo performance by Jerry Hassel ’67 of Schubert’s Ave Maria (the most beautiful performance of that song I have ever heard by anyone) to my chagrin was truncated before the final verse. And of course audience noises and inappropriate applause also detract from the sound quality from time to time; but remember, these are not studio performances, they are live performances in a high school auditorium from the 1960s.

These problems inspired me to learn to edit music on my computer, and with the elementary editing skills I have now acquired, I was able to restore the final verse of Jerry’s solo. I think that you should find that the sound quality of this second CD set is much improved over the first CD set. Therefore, in spite of the poor condition of some of the tapes, I believe you will not be disappointed by what you hear on the CDs. Quite the contrary, you will be thrilled and amazed.

Mr. Sturdevant has selected the music to include on the CDs, and I have used his selections, as well as old programs he provided, to design, edit, and produce the 3-CD box set you will soon receive. In addition to more than three hours of the most beautiful choral performances you will ever hear, the box set also contains a 28 page booklet with information about the composers and the text of the songs, in both English and, where necessary, in Latin, for each CD.

The first CD is the complete Spring Tour concerts for 1966 and 1967; the beauty and precision of these performances are truly amazing. The second CD is of the complete 1969 Spring Tour concert, Sturdevant’s final concert. In this one, Mr. Sturdevant pulls out all the stops and the 1969 choir rises to meet his demands. They perform to a level that must have left the audience in that small high school auditorium awe struck. The third CD, which I call “Highland Park High School Choral History 1954-1969”, is a selection of performances from all of the other available tapes. It includes performances from 1963, 1965, Christmas 1968 (including the community college choir), as well as vocal solos for Gretchen Fogel ’66 and Jerry Hassel ’67 and piano solos from Maryann Chann ’64 and Theodore Thomas ’65. Even though the complete concerts for these classes are not represented on this CD, I assure you that the performances by those classes are every bit as good as ’66, ’67, and ’69. And I am sure you all remember Mr. Norman Gifford, our beloved accompanist and composer in residence. Once again you will be able to hear him support us as we tackle some of the most difficult music in the choral repertoire. You will hear the ’63 choir record for the first and, I believe, only time his memorable “Highland Park School Hymn” led by the tenor voice of Mr. Sturdevant. Sadly, Mr. Gifford is now deceased. There are many brilliant performances on the original tapes that didn’t make Mr. Sturdevant’s cut for this box set. Well, I did leave space in the jewel case for one more CD.

Mr. Sturdevant is now offering each of his former concert choir members (as determined from a master list he has provided me as well as year book information) a copy of this new CD set, free, which contains the very best work from his years at Highland Park. Even if you received the first CD set, you will now receive this new expanded 3-CD set. If you are interested in having your copy, just reply to me either via e-mail, US post, or via phone message and give me your current address as well as your current phone number (if you haven’t already done this). Later if you decide that you want additional copies for family and friends, it will cost you (or them) $25.00 for each 3-CD set. (Mr. Sturdevant is taking on a considerable expense in offering one copy for each choir member.) I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you and so does Mr. Sturdevant. Most people we have heard from so far are thrilled at the recovering of these tapes.

I have been searching nation-wide for concert choir members from 1954-1969, but I need your help. If you are in touch with concert choir members please have them contact me today. Even if your class is pre-1963, and is not presented on the CDs it is still important for your class to hear them. Each year, in my opinion, the choirs got better and better because we learned from our older brothers and sisters, i.e., your class and the next one.... The brilliant and near professional quality performances that you will hear in the choirs presented on the CDs are a direct extension of the standards your class set for the next, and I promise you we will make you proud. Just wait until you hear these CDs!

Love,

Clifford Larkins, Ph.D., class of 1967