Missa Brevis
SATB soloists and Wind Quintet
I often find myself lamenting the lack of music for small forces of voices and instruments combined. There are plenty of works for choir a cappella, or with keyboard, or even an obbligato instrument, but very few new works for, say, SATB choir and wind quintet (or string quartet, or brass quintet, etc.). I wanted to write something to fill that gap, with the side effect that a piece could be written to be performed by as few as 9 musicians, but with the potential of expanding the piece to full choir and wind ensemble fairly easily if the opportunity ever arose.
The texts are more or less taken from the traditional Mass, some in Latin, some in English, but the English translations are not direct, but more poetic, aligning with my own personal religious beliefs. The Credo, in particular, is a statement of faith using the words of St. Paul, rather than one of the traditional creeds. Musically, the Latin sections are based on chant melodies taken straight out of the Liber Usualis (the Catholic book of traditional Gregorian chants), while the English sections are newly composed melodic material. Both elements are tied together by a common harmonic language inspired in part by the music of Durufle.
for information on obtaining sheet music, please contact me at WalkerWilliamsMusic@gmail.com
SATB soloists and Wind Quintet
I often find myself lamenting the lack of music for small forces of voices and instruments combined. There are plenty of works for choir a cappella, or with keyboard, or even an obbligato instrument, but very few new works for, say, SATB choir and wind quintet (or string quartet, or brass quintet, etc.). I wanted to write something to fill that gap, with the side effect that a piece could be written to be performed by as few as 9 musicians, but with the potential of expanding the piece to full choir and wind ensemble fairly easily if the opportunity ever arose.
The texts are more or less taken from the traditional Mass, some in Latin, some in English, but the English translations are not direct, but more poetic, aligning with my own personal religious beliefs. The Credo, in particular, is a statement of faith using the words of St. Paul, rather than one of the traditional creeds. Musically, the Latin sections are based on chant melodies taken straight out of the Liber Usualis (the Catholic book of traditional Gregorian chants), while the English sections are newly composed melodic material. Both elements are tied together by a common harmonic language inspired in part by the music of Durufle.
for information on obtaining sheet music, please contact me at WalkerWilliamsMusic@gmail.com