BC Boys Choir conductor Gerald Van Wijk commissioned this piece for the Choir's European tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. He asked for a liturgical piece, so I chose to have nine treble voices sing four traditional Hebrew brukhas, blessings for the divine gifts of life, light, and sustenance, plus a fragment of a psalm: "Behold what is good and pleasant: brothers dwelling together in unity." Because the piece was designed for performance in a stone church in Naarden, with the nine boys widely separated, you will have to turn your volume WAY UP!

3 Blessings And A Benediction.WAV

Another piece written for the BC Boys Choir to sing on their European tour. I helped pioneering ethnomusicologist Dr. Ida Halpern in her studies of West Coast first nations music, and this little piece is based on a Haida tune sung by the noted carver Mungo Martin, which I adapted using 20th century dissonance.

David Gordon Duke