Yes this definitely works very well for me - good listen... quite a few interesting, unexpected and lovely moments along the way.
100% agree with Thomas here. On a couple of listens, you definitely have a choral sound that is in the same general area...difference for me at the moment especially with EW is:tomtom1 wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:51 am Whitacre was mentioned, it's worth checking out - or Ola Gjeilo (Northern lights, Ubi caritas) - both composers are "big" in the choir-scene. Or Kehoe: Flow water - to get some more inspriation - if you don't know them already...
1) The way his choral music slowly, subtly expands, widens, grows, blossoms to a sometimes extraordinary degree over a piece. There are elements of this approach with your piece, but for me it needed to 'grow' even more.
2) EW - I always find myself listening to the inside parts almost as much as the top lines a lot of the time - it's often NOT just about melody and accompaniment as each and every part is a strong melody in its own right...of course the trick here is to do so without losing the overall sense of togetherness that is utterly crucial in this style of choral music! This is an area, I think for future development maybe? Linked to that point - the constant gentle interplay between parts with EW.
I get the point, but not for me in this particular musical context - there are clear little glimpses of polyphony at times here and that's fine, but this style of music does not overdo this aspect as it's all about the gentle rise and fall of the overall wash of sound.
Totally agree - especially the ebb and flow of the harmonic pace, but...shawshawraw wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:07 pm It gives me quite an Eric Whitacre feel - the use of chord extensions, the push and pull of harmonic rhythm
EW's sonorities are NOT just about extended chords, possibly even more important are these two points:
1) Often the extended chords do not move / resolve as expected...if they actually resolve at all!
2) Those intense peaks in his pieces are often centred around extraordinary note clusters rather than chords as such - he is often writing melodically (horizontally) with the interaction between separate parts creating the harmonies (vertical aspect).
with EW sometimes the sustained use of a note is mystifying until you hit one of those clusters and the whole sonority 'lifts' and you realize why that one note has been there for so long!
'With a Lily in Your Hand' measures 1-3 - an already present E in the tenor suddenly takes precedence in the piece as it is joined by a B major triad....B D# F# to form what can only really be described as a cluster.
I think that many of EW's most intense 'moments' go beyond analysis via traditional extended triads.
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Thank you so much for your detailed response again, Mark.
So many great insights that will help a lot in development.
I think one of the most accurate points of development you write. To be able to write strong, unique parts individually, yet they belong together, are equal, and together can create the whole, because that's how everything in the world works.
The best thing in composing in my opinion is the development, experimentation, the discovery, that illuminates very important things. It is a wonderful road.
I also thank you all your suggestion for choral pieces.
- but it is your work, and only my opinion! 
