Auld Lang Syne

This composition is dedicated to friends and colleagues who tirelessly kept the choral arts thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic. The composer sets two verses from Auld Lang Syne. It cascades and creates some dissonance. Phrases are short, often interrupted, much like 2020.

The the bulk of the composition sets an original text:
We reflect upon a year
With laughter, strife, grief and cheer,
One of darkness and one of light,
One so bitter, yet somehow sweet.

We move closer to midnight, we move closer to spring,
We move closer to the stars, the Universe, the Creator, and to our King.

Robert Burns’s text is also used:
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.