![]() has been exchanged at my request – the rest of the work remains as it was first published. The 2009 revised edition of i thank You God for most this amazing day replaces the original edition, published in 2000, which is no longer available. ![]() Because I wrote it last, the middle movement even quotes the first and the last piece in this set on the word “soul.” the word “life” quotes the musical material from Cloudburst, where the text is “roots, trunk, branches, birds, stars”). Each of the words, in turn, quotes a different choral work from my catalog, and its corresponding musical material comments on the word I set (i.e. I took only the first four words (hope, faith, life, love) and the last four (dream, joy, truth, soul) and set each of them as a repeating meditation. The more I thought about faith, however, the more introspective I became, and I modified the poem entirely to fit that feeling. In hope, faith, life, love the original poem is actually quite long, with sounds of clashing and flying and singing, and calls for music that is vibrant and virtuosic, a real show piece. The text is so passionate, so sensual I found it to be the perfect opening to a cycle of pieces about my own personal faith. I will wade out is the first in the set of Three Songs of Faith, and was a joy to set to music. This is exactly the mentality I was trying to force upon this set, and exactly the kind of thing that tends to get me all tangled up. I mean, for God’s sake, the school has been around for a hundred years, the least I can do is write something that will really bring the house down. Writing a commissioned work can be tough, especially if it is for a big glorious occasion, and my first reaction is almost always leaning towards grandeur. It was the middle installment, hope, faith, life, love, that was causing me to lose sleep. The third, i thank You God for most this amazing day, is such a beautiful and joyous poem that the music was at times almost effortless. i will wade out, the first piece in the set, seemed to cry out with lush, neo-romantic harmonies. In 1999 I was commissioned by Northern Arizona University to write a set of choral works commemorating the 100th anniversary of their school of music.
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