my joy

(2023)

for SATB choir (divisi)

Dedicated to dear friends Cathy and Andy Martin on the birth of their daughter, Anna Fiona Carys

Commissioned by the Whiddon Autumn Festival, with the generous support from Vaughan Williams Foundation and The Finzi Trust

  • 17 September 2023 at St. Michael’s Church, Chagford (Devon, England) given by the Corvus Consort and Freddie Crowley (cond.)

  • for Whiddon Autumn Festival

    Joy can take several guises. It mainfests itself in many ways in each of us. From pure elation to that internal warmth that we can’t quite put our finger on how it got there. People can give joy, as much as the emotion can spring up and surpise us. ‘my joy’ is a work that speaks to the universality of human emotions. Its exploration of joy, not as a constant state, but as a multifaceted and evolving sensation, invites listeners to embrace both the light and shadow within joy.

    Using J. S. Bach's BWV 227 ‘Jesu, meine Freude’ as an intial starting point, a work I have performed several times and one that I hold close to my heart, this short choral work weaves both Bach’s sonic explorations of joy with my own.

    This work was written as part of a residency with Whiddon Autumn Festival, kindly supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation and The Finzi Trust.

    -njd.

  • SATB choir (divisi)

  • 4’

listen

score sample