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Programme Note

Text:
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Composer Note:
God's Grandeur makes a companion piece to Pied Beauty, the first Gerard Manley Hopkins poem on ecstatic themes that I’ve set for choir. While Pied Beauty seemed a quiet hymn to me, God's Grandeur read like a scene — from awe to despair to an ecstasy of gratitude in one taut sonnet. That's why this piece seemed to need its own substantial, quasi-orchestral piano part, as opposed to unaccompanied motet style of Pied Beauty; and why God's Grandeur's vocalism ranges from fiery fanfare to desolate recitative to conclude, at last, in bright chorale.

— Mark Adamo