Study Score Choral
SKU: HL.402076
For Soprano Solo,
Children's Choir and
Orchestra. Composed
by Nico Muhly. Choral.
Classical. Softcover. 72
pages. Duration 1500
seconds. St. Rose Music
#SRO100186. Published by
St. Rose Music
(HL.402076).
ISBN
9781705160077. UPC:
196288056812.
9.0x12.0x0.167
inches.
The Right
of Your Senses is a set
of nine songs for
children's voices, solo
soprano, and orchestra
written for the National
Children's Chorus,
American Youth Symphony
and Los Angeles
Philharmonic Association.
The texts are primarily
17th-century, by Thomas
Traherne and George
Herbert, but two of them
come from the
11th-century Enchiridion
by Byrhtferth. The
overarching theme is the
story of creation, but
not just the list of
objects created: the
texts deal with the
emotional resonances of
the sun, the sea, the
air, and the moon with
all their mysterious,
bright, and dark
potential. There is a
recurring gesture in the
strings, introduced at
the very top: a simple
descending pattern which
binds many of the
movements together, even
when hidden in the more
tumultuous sections. The
first two movements are
bright, whereas the
middle three movements
are violent and deal with
the angrier natural
elements. The seventh
movement is the most
abstract and playful, and
here a direct nod to
Benjamin Britten's A
Ceremony of Carols, with
a fast three-part canon
depicting the behavior of
the atom. The eighth
movement, Night, is the
slowest, and depicts the
night sky. The final
movement is calm, and
encourages us: Be
faithful in a little, and
you shall be master over
much. The piece ends with
five strokes of high
bells. x Nico Muhly.