Audio CD

A Tempo Reflections on Walden Pond:  5. To Nature

Nunc Dimittis, also called the Song of Simeon, is found in the New Testament. It is a brief hymn of praise sung by the aged Simeon, who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. In this setting the word PEACE is reiterated in the manner of a mantra while the entire psalm floats over it. The work is for SATB choir with keyboard and optional timpani which may be emulated by organ pedals.

Psalms and Canticles 

Track 03 Psalms and Canticles Nunc Dimittis

Reflections on Walden Pond is a twenty minute suite in five movements for SATB choir(some divisi)with choral soloists, piano trio (piano, violin and cello). The text is taken word for word from Henry David Thoreau's prescient environmental tome WALDEN which he wrote mid-19th. century in 'exile' in a cabin he built deep in the Massachusetts woods. (With the help of a warden I was able to locate the site of his original cabin, now a pile of rocks. Goose bumps! My premusic studies included a  degree with studies in environmental biology.)  
Thoreau's words ring truer with every passing day. 
donaldpatriquin at gmail.com

•"How much of beauty—of color, as well as form—on which our eyes daily rest goes unperceived by us!" Thoreau's Journal entry, August 1, 1860. These colors:
 1 Intro, Woods and Life; 2 The Hawk; 3 Spring Grass; 4 Fishes and Time; 5 To Nature.

•Reflections on Walden Pond was commissioned, premiered – and heard here – by Cantate Carlisle under founder Cheryl Parsons.

Reflections on Walden Pond  (Complete 1,2,3,4,5)1.

This arrangement of an old Japanese folk song depicts the magnificence of cherry blossoms wafted by gentle spring breezes and falling slowly to the ground. 
SAKURA is well known in Canada’s Japanese community. 

The song’s wistful words were set to a gorgeous pentatonic (EFABC) melody during Japan’s relatively recent Eno period. 'Sakura' embodies the notion of ‘Mono no aware’, a Japanese term for the awareness of impermanence, which understands beauty as a subjective rather than objective experience, a state of being ultimately internal rather than external. The philosopher Jaitra has noted: “The sakura or cherry blossom tree is the epitome of this concept of beauty; the flowers of the most famous variety, somei yoshino, nearly pure white tinged with a subtle pale pink, bloom and then fall within a single week.” My arrangement is intended to portray the beauty of the cherry blossom tree, at once static in itself (momentary permanence) but also slowly swaying in response to gentle spring winds, and covering the ground with beautiful petals– a moment of sheer transient beauty.

SAKURA

The five movement choral setting of Henry David Thoreau's WALDEN POND begins with an instrumental introduction followed by the first movement Woods & Life which begins, in Thoreau's own words "I went to the woods, because I wished to live deliberately, to front the essential facts of life, to see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Living is so dear!... Thoreau was born in 1817.

A Tempo Reflections on Walden Pond Intro & 1. Woods and Life

A setting of The Benedicite (Begins: "Let the whole creation bless the Lord. Praise and exult our God forever"). For SATB (some divisi) and organ. Optional brass, timpani, percussion, harp and piano. A Tempo. Distributed by The Leading Note (Canada); Musical Resources (USA)
Five minutes. Commissioned for AGO convention, St. Joseph, Missouri

Benedicite from Psalms and Canticles of Prayer, Peace and Thanksgiving

Commissioned for Christmas Sing-in by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) premiered under Julian Wachner.
Canite tuba in Sion…Blow the trumpet in Sion, for the day of the Lord is near. Behold, He is coming to save us, alleluia, alleluia. 
Rise up in splendour, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you… Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you… Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Madian and Epha; all from Saba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord. 
Very lively!

Canite Tuba

An ancient Scottish blessing arranged for SATB, also SSA. It may be sung separately in English and in French, or the two language sections may be sung one after the other. The Gaelic Blessing is as much at home on the concert stage – where it has often been sung to close a concert – as it is at the close of a worship service.

May the road rise up to meet you; 
May the wind be always at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face; 
May the rains fall softly upon your fields.
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand 
Until we meet again.

06 An Old Gaelic Blessing (SATB)

This is a setting (heard here performed on piano by the composer) of a beautiful, tender and optimistic poem written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004) from Baltimore, MD. Legend has it that she hastily scribbled it on a paper bag. She wrote it to comfort a young family friend who had just lost her mother and was unable to visit her grave. It tells us that 'death' is not the end, but a beginning... a transition.

Availability, SATB–SSA–Unison perusal scores and further information directly from the composer at donaldpatriquinATgmail.com

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep. 
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain. 

When you awaken in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight;
I am the soft starlight at night. 

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die!

Do not stand at my grave and weep DT

I am a composer of choral and instrumental music, though specializing in choral music of all genres. I am particularly interested in World Music and World Music arrangements. Many of my choral arrangements are published by Earthsongs (USA) and Cypress Choral Music (Canada).  Website: www.donaldpatriquin.com   I compose much on commission. 
I may be contacted via my website (please see 'contact'). 

ATempo

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