The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls from The Sadness of the Sea

This three-movement work with texts by American poets-two of them women-is appropriate for the very best collegiate or professional women's choirs. The first movement is a poem by Lydia Huntley Sigourney, renamed "The Sadness of the Sea," whispered text beneath descending melodic lines recalls the ghostly voices of forgotten souls. In movement two, "Glee, the Storm Is O'er," the singer can imagine hearty women singing a rustic sea shanty, depicting the tragic story of a fatal ship wreck. For the third song, the composer combines Longfellow's "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls," with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to capture a melancholy often felt while sitting by the shore or on a dock of a small Atlantic port, watching travelers come and go. The texts are secular but extremely soulful. The choral writing is contemporary, edgy and descriptive, and the piano part is for an extremely accomplished player.