When Music Sounds

for SATB choir (2022)
Duration: 4'

This piece sets a text by Walter de la Mare. The piece is an appreciation and celebration of the beauty and wonder of music. With hints of nostalgia injected in its folk-like tune, my intention was for the piece to be enjoyed both in its performance and amongst the audience.

When music sounds, gone is the earth I know,

And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;

Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees

Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.

When music sounds, out of the water rise

Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes,

Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,

With solemn echoing stirs their dwelling-place.

When music sounds, all that I was I am

Ere to this haunt of brooding dust I came;

And from Time’s woods break into distant song

The swift-winged hours, as I hasten along.

00:00 / 03:38

The piece was commissioned by Mississauga Summer Chorale and premiered in the summer of 2022.

Scores available upon request.