Piece for SATB choir a cappella

I wrote this around 2017 or 2018, but it was a bit too short, probably because I tended to set poems in a very rigid way. Now I've learned to be more flexible, and the piece has reached the 3 minute mark, which I think it's the sweet spot for this kind of stuff.

The music's quite diatonic (thus easier to sing), but I've added complexity with variable meters and non-functional harmony. This is quite different from what I usually write.

The lyrics are by one of the classic Catalan authors of the early 20th century. Here you can read a rough translation.

Thanks for listening.

This sounds great!  I worry a little that by choosing to use the upper limit of the soprano range and the lower limit of the bass range in an a cappella piece some groups might have performance issues.  If the sopranos short the upper notes and the piece drifts slightly flat, the basses may have trouble producing the lowest notes.  It was a good idea to split the basses and sopranos in some sections as you did.  That should help.  

The variable meter works really well.  The whole piece speaks the text very naturally.  

I also enjoyed the use of brass in your demo video.  It suits the soaring character of the piece very nicely, even if it's not the most representative instrument set to imitate a choral sound.  

Thank you for including the link to the translation!  

On 5/10/2021 at 6:13 PM, pateceramics said:

This sounds great!  I worry a little that by choosing to use the upper limit of the soprano range and the lower limit of the bass range in an a cappella piece some groups might have performance issues.  If the sopranos short the upper notes and the piece drifts slightly flat, the basses may have trouble producing the lowest notes.  It was a good idea to split the basses and sopranos in some sections as you did.  That should help.  

The variable meter works really well.  The whole piece speaks the text very naturally.  

I also enjoyed the use of brass in your demo video.  It suits the soaring character of the piece very nicely, even if it's not the most representative instrument set to imitate a choral sound.  

Thank you for including the link to the translation!  

 

Yo, thanks! I tried to tailor the extremes of the vocal ranges to specific people I know (a tiny soprano and to huge basses), hopefully they'll be able to pull it off!