Welcome!Welcome to Wood Harbor Music, the portal site for the music of Rachel J. Burckardt and friends. Rachel is a composer, instrumentalist, recording artist and music producer, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her compositions span many styles and many settings, from sacred and liturgical music to orchestral music, as well as instrumental compositions for small ensembles including jazz tunes and electronic music. She has released 8 albums of her compositions.
She is also a recording artist and producer working with Ugly Duck Studio in Boston, and serves as a volunteer liturgical musician at St. Cecilia Parish also in Boston. She is the Founder of the Tutti Music Collective, Board Member of the Back Bay Chorale, and owner of Wood Harbor Music. "Rachel Burckardt has a unique compositional style, personal and always pushing the boundaries of a complex harmonic language. " (Joe Matzzie, composer and guitarist) Links Rachel
Photo by Rosie Delacruz About the composer Index of compositions by Rachel J. Burckardt: Download sheet music of selected psalm settings St. Cecilia Music
Friends of Wood Harbor Music:
Origin of Wood Harbor Village of Wood Harbour, Nova Scotia
Back when I was first playing with Bill Desmond's Tone Poem, we were preparing for one of our first gigs, opening for Dorothy Carter, the famous hammer dulcimer player, at a coffee shop in Hyannis. Bill had recently composed a piece name Nova Scotia. But then, he came up with a little 2 minute tag to play at the end of the piece. But what to name it? Well, I wondered what is at the end of Novia Scotia, so I took out my Rand McNalley road atlas and found Wood Harbour, a small fishing village at the end of the island province Thus was named Bill's composition Woods Harbor. Fast forward a decade and I needed a name for my "music company" for the tune I recorded for Bill's Christmas compilation CD, Gross Santa's Yuletide Favorites. Knowing that part of my paternal heritage comes from Nova Scotia and wanting to reference the enduring influence of playing Bill's music, I came up with Wood Harbor Music, and named the collection of musicians the Wood Harbor Ensemble. |
Psalm Settings
Find a listing of over 50 settings of 31 psalms. You can listen to many of my psalm settings on my You Tube channel. Most are very usable as Responsorial Psalms or for other liturgical settings.
Downloads of selected music now available!Downloads are available for some of my liturgical music is now available on this web site.
Videos
Many videos of my compositions are available on my channel on You Tube. Here's a selection:
Recent additions: Requiem in d minor - 1. Introit Hookset Piano Improvisation (recorded live at the Common Man in Hookset, NH) Requiem in d minor - Sampler of Movements 1, 2, 3, and 5 Requiem in d minor (Mt. Auburn) - Trailer Way of the Fens (from Suite for the Unplayable Piano) Featured instrumentals and tone poems: Ascendance (instrumental) The Bay (with Bill Desmond Tone Poem) Etude in c# minor (sheltering during the coronavirus) On Chestnut Street (jazz) Sketches of Winter - 1. Winter Prelude Featuring the organ of St. Cecilia Church, Boston: Improvisation in a minor * Organ Improvisation in C Major (The New Dawn)* Featured sacred and liturgical music: Ave Maria Psalm 16, You Are My Inheritance Psalm 18, I Love You Lord Psalm 25, To You, O Lord Psalm 32, Forgive Me the Wrong Psalm 34, Taste & See* Psalm 46, Be Still Psalm 51, Misarere Mei Deus Psalm 116, I Will Walk Psalm 138, In the Presence of the Angels* Gloria 2010 (from Mass of St. Anne) Gloria pre-2010 text (from Mass of St. Anne)* How Long* * Recorded live at St. Cecilia Church, Boston. Organ Improvisation in C Major (The New Dawn)
Video based on live recording of improvisation played on the 1999 Smith+Gilbert Organ of St. Cecilia Church, Boston, MA 
Rachel Burckardt: Organ
Recorded live by Evan Landry on May 9, 2014 at the New Dawn v2.0 Concert at St. Cecilia Church, Boston, MA. St. Cecilia Music Wood Harbor Music www.woodharbormusic.net ©2014 Rachel J. Burckardt. All Rights Reserved. |
The Tutti Music Collective Presents
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Sacred & liturgical music composed by Rachel Burckardt. To order, email Wood Harbor Music.
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Music of the Bill Desmond Tone Poem
In the early 1980s, The Bill Desmond Tone Poem produced some of the most creative and aurally interesting music of the "New Age" genre. Bill and I are planning to reissue the best of this music in 2020. The recording will include some of the best of Sparkle String Discovery and Trapezoid Stringway to Light.. Rumor has it there may also be some never-heard gems as well!
Stay tuned here for news! Meanwhile, you can listen to one gem from Sparkle String on You Tube.
Stay tuned here for news! Meanwhile, you can listen to one gem from Sparkle String on You Tube.
The Bay
The Bill Desmond Tone Poem
from Sparkle String Discovery
Composed by Bill Desmond
Recently restored from cassette to digital. This was my first studio recording playing guitar.
My Jazz EP:
On Chestnut Street
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A trio of my jazz tunes featuring the Wood Harbor Jazz Quintet:
Diane Wernick, tenor sax Alex Meisner, alto sax
Diana Fischer, piano Blake Newman, bass
Phil Neighbors, drums
Also includes a solo piano piece I played after the quintet recording. Available at CD Baby: store.cdbaby.com/cd/racheljburckardt4
Diane Wernick, tenor sax Alex Meisner, alto sax
Diana Fischer, piano Blake Newman, bass
Phil Neighbors, drums
Also includes a solo piano piece I played after the quintet recording. Available at CD Baby: store.cdbaby.com/cd/racheljburckardt4
Liturgical and Sacred Music Recordings:
Order from Wood Harbor Music, or other digital music services.