Across the Water (text: traditional Scottish and American folk songs) for unison treble choir, SSA women’s choir, flute, guitar, and piano; 6’(2015) (commissioned by the Madison Youth Choirs)
composer's note: "Across the Water" was written for the treble choirs of the Madison Youth Choirs, for their trip to the Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland. Because of the long, rich tradition of folk music traveling from Scotland to the US (usually through Appalachian folk traditions) and back again, I wanted to write a piece that honors and expands upon that history. So, "Across the Water" takes as its starting point "The Water Is Wide," a plaintive folk song of lost love that's traveled so far and so many times that it seems every singer knows a different version. That song is sung by the older singers in 3-part vocal harmony... meanwhile, the younger choir sings the old Scots Gaelic waulking song "Cò nì mire rium," which is in great contrast to "The Water Is Wide," boisterous, joyful, and rhythmic. Over the course of "Across the Water," these two songs form an uneasy partnership, and the two languages and styles weave in and out of each other... until, in the end, the joy of "Cò nì mire rium" takes over the texture entirely as all the voices of various ages come together in triumph. performed by the Madison Youth Choirs, flutist Liz Marshall, and guitarist Steven Morgan, dir. Michael Ross: