Voicing: SATB and Violoncello
By Alice Parker
Words by Richard wilbur

"Richard Wilbur's 'Psalm' is a lyrical reincarnation of Psalm 150 with its summoning of instruments to give praise. When the choir of St. John's Episcopal Church in Williamstown, MA suggested this text to me for a commission, I accepted with great pleasure. For it is a song, needing human voices to bring the instruments to life. I chose to set it for mixed chorus and cello, asking the instrument to be rather virtuosic in its evocation of other instruments, then completely at home in the final, darker stanza. Wilbur's opening line 'Give thanks for all things,' serves as a refrain, allowing different choral voices to evoke the lute, the harp, the horn, flute and drum. It is a madrigal anthem, in which cello and chorus join in lively conversation about differing sounds of praise, suitable for performance at any service of celebration or prayer."

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