Joyful, Joyful for mixed voices (SATB), a cappella

Description

SCORE DETAILS

Composer: Matthew Orlovich | Date of Composition: 18 May, 2020 | Instrumentation: Mixed Voices (SATB), a cappella | Duration: ca 3 minutes, 30 seconds | Commissioned by: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (Australia) | Publisher: Waratah Music | Formats: Printed Edition (WM 016 : ISMN 979-0-7202-1531-0) / PDF Digital Download (WM 016e : ISMN 979-0-7202-1530-3) | Edition: 16 March 2021

COMPOSER’S NOTE

Joyful, Joyful for mixed voices (SATB) a cappella was commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for performance upon the occasion of their 100th anniversary.

The Choirs’ centenary year also happens to be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, so I couldn’t resist affording my work a “Beethoven connection”, albeit an oblique one, in the form of my chosen text (“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee”) which was inspired by Beethoven’s setting of “Ode to Joy” and penned by the American poet, Henry van Dyke.

Comprising one continuous movement (Vivo: crotchet = c. 176), my setting begins with fanfare-like calls and responses between high and low voices. A quieter passage ensues with sopranos and altos scored in close harmony against a moto perpetuo accompaniment of rhythmically intermingling tenor and bass voices. Thereafter, a natural crescendo is effected, leading to more fanfare-like flourishes and a concluding climax.

I extend my thanks to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for commissioning my new setting, and I wish them every success in their centenary year and beyond. – MO.

SCORE SAMPLE

WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE

Saturday 13 March, 2021
Performed by VOX, directed by Elizabeth Scott @ St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia.

PRESS GALLERY

J-WIRE
“Orlovich’s work provided a resounding send-off for the concert, with its fanfare-like optimism.”
Vox, directed by Elizabeth Scott Ancell @ St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, 13 March, 2021.
– Fraser Beath McEwing, J-Wire (Australasia), 14/3/21.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“Joyful, Joyful by another Sydney composer Matthew Orlovich closed the program with the program’s most animated textures, exchanging chordal phrases antiphonally between upper and lower voices and ending on a chord of satisfying density”.
Vox, directed by Elizabeth Scott Ancell @ St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, 13 March, 2021.
– Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 15/3/21.

SYDNEY ARTS GUIDE
“The healing process, that makes the program a journey, is climaxed by a new commissioned work by Matthew Orlovich – Joyful, Joyful. If the audience wanted to break the fast of meditation and prayer that the program might have seemed then this was the work for them. Playful and exuberant the piece bounced in prancing acapella that roused the audience into fulsome applause, for one piece and for the ingenuity of the program as a whole.”
Vox, directed by Elizabeth Scott Ancell @ St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia, 13 March, 2021.
– Geoffrey Sykes, Sydney Arts Guide (Australia), 15/3/21.