(Each week we look at one or two of the best choral works posted in the Composition Showcase here on ChoralNet. This is where we store a treasure trove of works that your choirs will love to sing and your audiences will love to hear.)
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Braswell SATB a cappella
Level: High School Mixed Choir, Advanced Middle School
Uses: Fall Concert, Open House
Program Themes: Spring, Seasons, Rain, Zombie Apocalypse
This Piece Would Program Well With: Undead Love by Mike O’Mara http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZZWAPsT_h0
This Sara Teasdale text offers many programming options. The very profound point of the poem is that nature doesn’t need humankind, it would get along well without us. I could see programing this with other pieces that deal with the rapture, end of days etc. and billing the concert as the Zombie Apocalypse show. That would certainly get the attention of a high school or college audience.
Ray Braswell’s setting of There Will Come Soft Rains is a lovely piece and would stand on its own without extreme programming. The recording provided was made by ChoralTracks.com. The piece is available from the composer: http://braswellmusic.blogspot.com/
Ray Braswell says
Jack Senzig says