UNBOUNDED
for piano & string quartet (est. 2021)
SUICIDE IN TRENCHES
for soprano, cello, piano (est. 2021)
Lyrics:
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches cowed and glum,
With crimps of lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
~ Siegfried Sassoon
SIMPLE SOLDIER BOY
for string quartet (est. 2021)
LACRIMOSA
for choir (est. 2021)
Lyrics:
Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem. Amen.
SELAH (PSALM 61)
for choir & wind dectet (2 flute, 2 oboe, 2 clarinet, 2 bassoon, 2 horn)
for choir & string quartet (est. 2021)
Lyrics:
Hear my cry
Hear my cry, O God
Listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you
When my heart is faint, O God.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Selah
Hear my cry.
From the end of the earth I call to you
When my heart is faint, O God.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Hear my cry
Selah.
Program Note:
Selah is a word that is used 74 times in the Hebrew Bible (71 of those in the Book of Psalms), yet the meaning of the word is still unknown. Various interpretations of it include ‘stop and listen,’ ‘forever,’ as well as a use similar to that of ‘amen,’ in that the truth and importance of the preceding passage is emphasized. This piece for choir sets the first two verses of Psalm 61, a prayer that is a cry for rescue when being overwhelmed.