When All Falls Silent – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett

Text by: Charles Anthony Silvestri

Instrumentation: SATB

Duration: Approx. 3 minutes

Date Written:  2020

Composer’s note: Ma In 2019, I was invited to participate in the first King’s Singers New Music Prize competition; this resulting piece earned a commendation from the jury. The text, one of several choices offered to the contestants, is by Charles Anthony Silvestri, regular collaborator with Eric Whitacre and many other contemporary composers. It was a pleasure to transform his evocative words (“the song’s amber light”; “My heart-song...rises from the mist”) into choral beauty.

Sample recording by The Crossing/Donald Nally

text

When all falls silent,
And the breath of life
Flows from the source
And calms the stormy sea,
My heart-song,
Always sung but seldom heard,
Rises from the mist,
Calling, calling…

Then, slowly,
I turn my gaze,
Drawn toward beauty
And the song’s amber light;
I open my soul,
And I am at peace,
I am in harmony,
Listening, listening…