“Invocation” by Ben Moss; Madison Greer: Voice, Amy Tai: Piano
Friday, July 9th, 2010
This is a piece I wrote for the “Outside the Box” composition competition in the Harvard Music Department. It did not win, but here it is for your listening pleasure! It uses the text from Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “Invocation”, posted below. Thanks and congrats to Madison Greer ‘13 and Amy Tai ‘13 for doing a great job with it!
Invocation
Come down from heaven to meet me when my breath
Chokes, and through drumming shafts of stifling death
I stumble toward escape, to find the door
Opening on morn where I may breathe once more
Clear cock-crow airs across some valley dim
With whispering trees. While dawn along the rim
Of night’s horizon flows in lakes of fire,
Come down from heaven’s bright hill, my song’s desire.
Belov’d and faithful, teach my soul to wake
In glades deep-ranked with flowers that gleam and shake
And flock your paths with wonder. In your gaze
Show me the vanquished vigil of my days.
Mute in that golden silence hung with green,
Come down from heaven and bring me in your eyes
Remembrance of all beauty that has been,
And stillness from the pools of Paradise.
Duration : 0:3:58
In Full Swing is a versatile professional vocal quartet featuring a wide range of styles and musical settings, from a cappella to big band swing to full symphonic orchestrations; performing jazz and popular numbers from the big band era to the present. The great big bands of Count Basie, Woody Herman, and Glenn Miller are paid tribute, as well as medleys of songs associated with legendary composers and performing artists Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller & the Modernaires, George Gershwin, Burt Bacharach, and Stevie Wonder. Also featured are songs popularized by such artists as Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Manhattan Transfer, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, and the Singers Unlimited.