Easter Day

Gerard Manley Hopkins’s masterfully expressive poem elicits a powerful response from this gifted composer in a dancing, jubilant anthem as much for organ as it is for voices. A commanding solo trumpet is essential to the organ part, with several interludes in the form of mini tuba-tunes. Rhythmic energy is generated from the alternation of 6/8 and 3/4 measures, a common metrical organization used here without any hint of cliche. The choral parts are medium easy at most, with plentiful unison passages. During choral passages the organ almost always doubles the choir or reduces in texture to pedal and the left hand, making this quite practical for a combined organist-choirmaster. In solo passages the organ writing is exciting without being showy, brilliant without making virtuositic demands. This anthem would serve choirs of all size and capability, and the tight pairing of the poetry and Coonman’s musical response is sure to make this popular with singers and congregations.
The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, April 2016