Simple Psalms (2016)

for SATB choir, a cappella

Simple Psalms
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Text: Psalms 48, 130 & 123 (BCP)
Duration: 7.5 minutes (2.5 mins each)
Difficulty: 2/4

First performed in Edmonton by Pro Coro #connect (Michael Zaugg, dir.) in May 2019.

In my own ongoing personal challenge (that is, to compose shorter pieces which might be accessible to a wide range of choirs), Simple Psalms is a trio of brief psalm settings for a cappella choir, suitable for concert performance or sacred worship. The same type of harmonic writing and textural complexity from my other pieces is clearly present here, but in a simplified form. Each psalm may be performed individually or (for something more substantial) as a complete set.

Click here to see the complete score.

The audio below is a live recording of the premiere performance by Pro Coro #connect in May 2019.

Full Text


Magnus Dominus
Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy hill is a fair place,
and the joy of the whole earth:
Mount Sion of the uttermost parts of the north,
the city of the great King.
He hath made himself known in her citadels
as a sure refuge.
For this God is our God for ever and ever:
he shall be our guide for evermore.

De Profundis
Out of the deep have I called
unto thee, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
O let thine ears consider well
the voice of my complaint.
O Israel, trust in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy,
and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel
from all his sins.

Levavi Oculos Meos
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, even as the eyes of servants look
unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden
unto the hand of her mistress,
even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,
until he have mercy upon us.