Evening Service for the Transfiguration

AAM member Joel Martinson wrote this evening service for his choir at Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas on a commission honoring the Stephen Ministry. Joel’s consistently intelligent and aurally appealing style is never more in full force that these canticles. The melodies are attractive and memorable while the organization, architecture, and execution are covertly rigorous. His mastery of counterpoint, evinced by the many figures and fugal sections in other works, doesn’t break through the polished surface, yet this sensibility underlies the compositional design throughout. A murmuring eighth-note line in the organ accompaniment winds throughout the first half of the Magnificat, while the voices serenely move in quarter-note beat pace. The harmonies shift quickly, covering a considerable amount of territory without the movement seeming abrupt or jarring. Beginning at the “he hath” list section of the text, the music changes to an agitated 3/2 with jaunty staccato chords and accented syncopation. This texture persists through the end of the canticle and segues smoothly into a gentle Gloria Patri that is reminiscent of the opening without resuming the eighth-note running line. This concluding section builds gradually to forte and finally fortissimo iterations of the “amen,” with the final widely spread C major chord buttressed by the 32’ reed in the Pedal and the Great mixture. The Nunc dimittis has a gently rocking accompaniment underpinning a languid melody befitting the resignation of the text. Warm C major and E-flat major harmonies alternate enhancing the swaying motion, and the vocal line navigates these vacillations through an expansive range of melodic destinations. The Gloria Patri maintains the accompaniment figure that opens the canticle while the treble and bass voices enter in canon. Energy continues to build, and the organ part breaks into driving eighth-note motion for “world without end.” The choir ends with the same large final chord that ended the first Gloria Patri, and the organ recedes quickly to end the set piano. The choral writing is accessible and vocally conceived, while the organ part is not only idiomatic but also a good deal of fun to play. This extremely strong evening service is a terrific addition to the evensong repertoire.
Jason Overall, The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, January 2016