Crystal Veil Suite 4-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.990685

Crystal Veil Suite was composed in 2018 for REVEL, an Austin, Texas based classical music group led by Dr. Carla McElhaney, and for Chorus Austin, also of Austin, Texas, Ryan Heller, Artistic Director. The premiere of the piece took place on December 1, 2018, at the "Existential Solstice" concert, part of REVEL's "Radio Project" concert series. The "Existential Solstice" concert, a collaboration between REVEL and Chorus Austin, featured music and poetry meant to elicit vivid imagery of winter scenes. As a lifelong Texan, this required a stretching of my creativity, as you well might imagine. The A section of the first movement, "The Snow," was written in Phyrigian mode to evoke the melancholy mood that may accompany a long winter, with descending patterns in the viola and the right hand of the piano painting a gentle snowfall. The B section contrasts with a faster tempo, suggesting an intensification of the snowfall, before returning to the melancholic A section. The second movement, "Frost and Wind," paints a snowstorm with its faster tempo, swirling winds in the right hand of the piano and in the choir, and bitter frost evinced in all voices. Finally, in the third movement, "Snow," a shift to the major mode and tranquil melodic lines suggests a return to a gentle snowfall following the storm, with contemplative motives in all voices, until a lone robin's voice and sunlight bring us hope of spring's return.