Completed: January, 2005

Dedicated to Scott Perkins. World premiere on April 23, 2005 by Kairos, directed by Scott Perkins. Also performed by the Yale Schola Cantorum, the choir of St. Paul's K Street, and at the Tokyo Cantat.

Text: from Psalm 32.

Published: Alliance Music Publications, Inc. #AMP 0729

PROGRAM NOTE

Beati Quorum Remissae, composed for the Kairos choir in 2005, is a double-choir setting of six verses from Psalm 32. The larger choir, which sings almost exclusively in English, sets the scene of drought and despair early on, musically illustrated by wandering, unsettled music. In between these expressions of mortal weakness, a smaller choir offers hope for happiness in statements resembling the Beatitudes. This choir sings only in Latin, often in triplets (groups of three which, here, refer to the trinity), and occupies a much more stable, serene tonal area. Finally, the larger choir arrives at a kind of transfiguration through the admission of sin, finding in God a “hiding-place” from life’s troubles. This resolution is strengthened by repetition in Latin in the solo choir. At the final chord of the piece, the two choirs settle on B minor and G major, two chords which, though different, share two common pitches. This sonority illustrates both the separation between the mortal and the divine and the restorative connection between mankind and spirituality.

RECORDING