O Joy! (2008)
O Joy! was commissioned by VocalEssence and director PhilipBrunelle for their 40th anniversary celebration, September 14, 2008, in Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
Garrison Keillor hosted, there were tenors on roller skates, and the University of Minnesota marching band showed up in full regalia.
The event was reviewed in the Minnesota Star-Tribune and St. Paul's Pioneer Press.
O Joy! contains lines from Psalm 77 concerning transformation through the use of the voice, re-translated by Brazelton herself from the original Hebrew and Vulgate Latin versions.
This recording is from the live performance September 14, 2008 and was broadcast on NPR's Performance Today later that fall.
- VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
- Philip Brunelle, director
- Charles Kemper, piano
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
Have we forsaken sadness?
Obliterate the madness of little things
to sing, to sing, to sing out
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
Abandon despair, all ye who enter here
Cast off heartbreak, discard care
to sing, to sing, to sing out!
I cried unto God
with my voice,
unto God
with my voice,
and He listened to me.In the day of my trouble,
I sought out the Lord;
my pain stretched into night and never ceased:
my soul refused to be comforted.Then I remembered God
and cried out loud;
I sang to myself and my spirit swooned.
My opening eyes were seized;
I was so agitated I could not speak.I have thought of those old days
which I hold in my mind for years to eternity
And I meditate now
on my own heart's song that night
and sing it to my spirit.
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
Have we forsaken sadness?
Obliterate the madness of little things
to sing, to sing, to sing out
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
O joy!
(joy joy joy)
Abandon despair, all ye who enter here
Cast off heartbreak, discard care
to sing, to sing, to sing out!
all rights
reserved
©2008, words, Bible translation & music by Catherine Bowles Brazelton
& Snicim Vinahel (ASCAP).