SKU: PE.EP68578

ISBN 9790300759630. English.

Of Time and Passing (2016) is a cycle of three choral songs written specifically for the London-based ensemble, VOCES8, taking into consideration their versatilityand ability to beautifully intone a range of vocal colors with precision and grace.

The first song, I. Life, sets my translation of the poem A Vida by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac (1865-1918), a poet I discovered while studying Brazilian Portuguese at the University of Michigan. I was drawn both to the simplicity of the text and to the possibilities of teasing out dual contrasting moods. In the beginning and end, this song explores a texture that is very much alive: wave-like contours, throbbing sounds, and plenty of flowing movement. Rising eighth-note motives in particular emphasize the fleetingness of life. But in the middle of the song, the listener is given a slowed-down atmosphere to savor life's beauty.

II. To Everything a Season capitalizes on VOCES8's ability to effectively interpret popular genres a cappella. This ancient text is taken from Ecclesiastes (dated around 300 B.C.) but I set it to a modern, rhythmically-regular and percussive pop-style idiom. Since popular music in whatever era is designed
to appeal to a specific ?present time?, it is by its very nature ephemeral, and therefore seemed an apt metaphor to evoke the transitory nature of seasons.

III. Into Your Hands, confines the writing into no more than four parts, often with octave unisons.This creates a more direct and word-focused setting in which the Psalmist?s urgent words are placed at the forefront. Largely homophonic, this song is at times chorale-like, at times madrigal-like,
finall y relinquishing it?s tension into peaceful rest, proclaiming ?You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God??

- Daniel Knaggs

SKU: HL.427582

ISBN 9781705162620. UPC: 196288062790. 6.75x10.5x0.019 inches.

This setting of Christina Rossetti's poem “Then Shall Ye Shout” for unaccompanied double choir was commissioned by Help Musicians UK for its annual St Cecilia's Festival service and first performed by the Choirs of St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Westminster Cathedral on 17 November 2021. Rossetti's text describes singers biding their time and staying silent until the moment they are able to come together again and sing, loudly and with passion. The piece commemorates the period in 2020 during which musicians were unable to perform due to lockdowns caused by the global pandemic.