Voices of Connection: 08/12 Christmas in August!
This piece is technically a Christmas piece, but it sounds beautiful all year long. Jim’s haunting melody and the wonderful variations which follow are so immediately appealing, that this could well be his single most famous work. I know that choirs all around the world sing it. This recording you hear today was the World Premiere. Here are Jim’s notes: “My second work commissioned by Voices of Ascension, this piece was premiered at the holiday concert in December 1999. I had long been fond of the Latin text about the shepherds and the Magi, which traditionally has been heard sung to an ancient chant melody from the 1500s. I decided instead to extract the text, and then set it to my own original melody. The music that evolves out of this is a mini-set of theme and variations for chorus. Over the years, this piece has become quite popular and is used widely for various services and concerts. One very special performance was the night it served as the offertory anthem for Midnight Mass at the Vatican, Christmas Eve 2016. The work is published by Oxford University Press, which serves as my publisher for selected compositions.”
JAMES BASSI Quem Pastores Laudavere
Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director
Recorded live in concert, December 1999 at Church of the Ascension
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.