Choir Secular SSAATTBB
choir (SSAATTBB)
SKU:
PE.EP68578
Three
songs for unaccompanied
choir. Composed by
Daniel Knaggs. Choral
Works (inc. Oratorios).
Edition Peters. Choral
Octavo. 44 pages. Edition
Peters #98-EP68578.
Published by Edition
Peters (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