Te Deum

Instrumentation

SATB choir and organ

Recording, click here

Other Information

This is a setting of the traditional Latin text. I found it easy to generate music from the Latin, whereas the English translation made me question, from a philosophical point of view, whether God needs praise. Obviously not, but we as spiritual beings need to re-connect with the Great Spirit, to fulfill our true destiny. Faced with the challenges of our material bodies and the material world, our lives are pilgrimages. This was in my mind during the process of composition. The earlier parts are gritty, and the second half thrashes around different keys. A degree of transcendence was the aim of the final section in the home key of G minor.