Super Flumina

Mixed SATB choir; 11 minutes


Super Flumina was written for a group of friends which I assembled into a choir. It is an extensive work written with members of this choir specifically in mind. The slower sections which begin and end the piece are marked with low, rich sonorities. A chant in the bass line in the first section reappears in segmented forms throughout the middle section, and gives the basis for some of the harmonic motives. In the last section of the piece, the chant reappears in its entirety in the soprano line, as the lower voices settle into a low C# tonal center. The contrapuntal middle section has references to the motet of the same name by G. P. Palestrina (1525-1594). A defining factor of the middle portion is an elusive harmonic progression based on triadic sonorities with simultaneous major and minor thirds.

Premiered March 17, 1997 at the U.B.C. Recital Hall, Vancouver, B.C.


Soprano:
Dawn Coulter, Robyn Driedger,
Joanna Dundas, Katy Hedalen,
Benita Wolters

Alto:
Suzanne Abbott, France Fledderus,
Dana Luccock, Sophia Vassiliadis

Tenor:
John Bacon, Colin Balzer,
Jeff Cabralda, Jacob Doherty,
Moses Myung

Bass:
Tyler Duncan, Craig Galbraith,
Jonathan Liebich, Tyler Peterson,
Lyndon Surjik, John Trotter

Jonathon Quick, conductor

Recordings
  • excerpts (currently n/a)
  • complete

To see and hear score excerpts, go here.