God’s Grandeur [Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins] (1986)

Chorus and Organ – 4 mins.
Winner 1995 AGO/ECS Choral Composition Award

Video

Audio

Score (Free Download)

Program Note

God’s Grandeur is a toccata for chorus and organ, its electric 16th-note motive exposed as a choral ostinato as the piece begins and gradually working its way into the organ. Around this thread is draped the magical and startling words and images of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, from the “charged” opening phrase, through the dark “smeared, bleared” weariness of the middle, gathering strength and brilliance to the final “ah! bright wings.” These mood modulations are captured not only in the textural, dynamic, and harmonic language, but also in the meter which begins duple, becomes irregular in the middle, and culminates in predominantly triple patterning.