Recorded live on October 3, 2021 in Chronos Vocal Ensemble's first live performance since COVID-19, at St. Timothy's Anglican Church (Edmonton).

Commissioned by Chronos Vocal Ensemble in 2020.

All singers are masked in this recording.

Text by Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374):
Trans. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1903

I saw how tears had left their weary traces
Within those eyes that once the sun outshone,
I heard those lips, in low and plaintive moan,
Breathe words to stir the mountains from their places.
Love, wisdom, courage, tenderness, and truth
Made in their mourning strains more high and dear
Than ever wove soft sounds for mortal ear;
And heaven seemed listening in such saddest ruth
The very leaves upon the bough to soothe,
Such sweetness filled the blissful atmosphere.


Recording Engineer: Ron Yachimec
Editing and Mastering: Jordan Van Biert

Performance © 2020 Chronos Music Society of Alberta

Breathe (Matthew Emery)

Chronos Vocal Ensemble

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