This is a wonderful text by Patricia Smith for Advent, that she has set the Thomas Tallis’s THIRD MODE MELODY. It is from her collection “And the Angels Sang”, that is available from Willow for $A19.95. Keyboard and SAB versions are also available there for A$3.95.
I have noted already that many Australian parishes have found themselves so well served by As One Voice Vol 1&2, that that is all they use, and since AOV 3 or NG2 will never happen now and with CWB2 being a missed opportunity, Australian songwriters like Smith and Peter Grant will probably never get the reach they deserve across the Australian Catholic church. At least here, Willow has collected a thematically linked anthology of her work that any school or parish would be enriched by.
This text has been haunting me and I’d love to hear an SAB version if someone has recorded one that they can put up on You-Tube.
This song would obviously be a great choir piece for Christmas or Advent, but she notes its use elsewhere in the calendar for Marian feasts like the Annunciation and the Immaculate Conception.
My backing suggests that, in my hands at least, BIAB should lay off Tallis. I mean the notes are all there but the feel has to come from a real musician for this sort of thing, so feel free to ignore it and listen to the choir below.
1 As Mary heard the angel’s cry, we hear the Spirit sigh.
The promise quickens in our hearts, a distant gleam of light.
And still the power it is to shun or seize the speechless Word,
And humbly voice our hope and joy: “Your will be done on earth!”
2 As Mary waited hour by hour, we wait to see your power.
We know you with us yet we watch for dawn with hope unbound
And turn once more obedient steps towards that place of birth
Where dark and death are hurled aside and so your kingdom comes.
3 As Mary gazed upon the child, we gaze on you, O Christ,
In faces broken, pitied, scorned, in hands torn and despised.
Your beauty sears our hearts and love, borne on untold delight,
Our soul invades with silent grace and day is born from night.
© 2016 P A Smith administered by Willow Publishing.
This cello version is instructive (and beautiful):
Just imagine this choir singing Smith’s text to Tallis’s tune: