SATB, Piano, String Quartet or Brass Quintet (5:00)
As I considered a text for this project, (composed for a dear and longtime friend), I wanted something unfamiliar to me, and while I have discovered that numerous composers have set these hymn lyrics, I have never come across this poetry, nor any musical settings of the text.
The melody is crafted with a nod to traditional hymnity, but with (I hope) a modern choral sensibility. This is perhaps most evident in the dramatic minor 7th fall in the initial call and response (between ‘music’ and ‘softly’ in verse one. The 6/4 meter creates a gentle ‘rocking’ that aligns with my sense of the natural rhythm of the text.
The strings (or brass) are complementary in every sense, and even when doubling the singers the instrumentalists can play expressively. The interludes should feel cinematic (in terms of their preparatory/transitional purpose), and while not virtuosic in difficulty, can be played freely as an ensemble to their maximum level of expressivity.