Recording from live performance by the DaCapo Chamber Choir. The performance was held on May 10th, 2008, entitled three, reaching beyond.
This setting of the requiem text was conceived as a celebration of the earth. The way the saxophone sounds with the piano and choir feels very “down to earth,” but at the same time, there is a hint of paradise in the love that we share for the planet – an “eternal rest” that sits at the root of our experience here and now. In this sense, I find the text speaks about a way of being fully alive, searching for joy with two feet on the ground.
In Paradisum
In paradisum deducant te angeli,
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te
in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.
May the angels lead you into paradise,
may the martyrs receive you in your coming,
and may they guide you into the holy city, Jerusalem.
May the chorus of angels receive you
and with Lazarus once poor
may you have eternal rest.
“The final piece premiered Corlis’s composition Into Paradise. The work and the concert were conceived as a celebration of the Earth and the sentiment that (in Corlis’ words) “we love our home.”
The piece began with a repeated pattern of softly-sustained chords with progressively interesting tonal clusters advancing a subtle and irresistible tension. An intensifying combination of melodic choral lines, impressionistic saxophone phrases and assertive piano chords developed into a broad, lush climax, finally receding to a singularly chanted note. The concluding requiem aeternam built upon a quietly rumbling bass and settled into wonderful harmonic repose.
The work held the audience spellbound with a performance that achieved both musical integrity and spiritual intensity. The final visual image of Earth from outer space — having been through this wonderful musical journey — was inevitably observed with a new level of meaning and insight.”
– Steven Preece, Reviewing In Paradisum, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, April 27, 2007.
