for SATB unaccompanied Entitled 'Grace Anthem for Ascension Day' in the Gonville and Caius College Library, this makes a very useful addition to the repertory for Ascension Day - either as an introit or as an anthem. The text is from the Collect for the Sunday after Ascension. The piece starts in triple time and contrasts chordal writing with imitative textures before moving into common time for the final Alleluia.
Recenzijas
This unaccompanied four-part anthem sets in Latin an Ascension text looking forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Wood composes effectively for voices and this is no exception. If your choir has a secure sense of pitch and enjoys singing Wood's Hail, gladdening light then O Rex gloriae will surely please the singers. In its 71 bars, this dramatic anthem offers great opportunities for contrasting dynamics and mood. * Gordon Appleton, Sunday by Sunday (CMQ), March 2017 *
Born in Ireland, Charles Wood was a treble chorister in the choir of the nearby St. Patrick's Cathedral where he received his early education. Later he studied composition at the Royal College of Music in London with Stanford and Parry. He went to Cambridge as student, organ scholar, then Fellow, becoming the first Director of Music and Organist. As a composer he is chiefly remembered for his Anglican church music, usually in a late romantic harmonic style. All Wood's a cappella music demonstrates fastidious craftsmanship and a supreme mastery of the genre, and he is no less resourceful in his accompanied choral works which sometimes include unison sections and have stirring organ accompaniments, conveying a satisfying warmth and richness of emotional expression appropriate to his carefully chosen texts. Wood co-edited three books of carols, wrote eight string quartets, and was co-founder of the Irish Folk Song Society. His pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells.
