The second part of the Intermission collection of pieces by various composers drawn from my involvement in choirs and musical outlets over the years.

1. The River
(composed by Coco Love Alcorn)
I was introduced to this soulful piece by Chris MacLean in 2019 as part of her Song Kitchen Choir (Ottawa), a casual singing group I had joined in fall 2016. I had the words and found the guitar chords and from that was able to put together my own interpretation.
Vocals recorded July 8, 2022

2. Falling Slowly
(composed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
This piece is a bit of an outlier as it is not one I ever performed live. I had downloaded the sheet music hoping to introduce it to rest of the Sounding Joy musical, but our sessions were halted in 2020 because of the pandemic. I first heard the song via the 2007 movie “Once”.
Vocals recorded July 14, 2022

3. Take the “A” Train
(composed by Billy Strayhorn, arranged by Kirby Shaw)
I first sang this famous jazz standard back in 2018 with the Musica Viva Singers at our train-themed Spring concert.
Vocals recorded July 14, 2022

4. Just a Closer Walk With Thee
(composed by Kenneth Morris)
I once sang this for a funeral with Anne Hurley, I believe it was in 2019. I borrowed her piano performance for a practice recording she made for her choir.
Vocals recorded July 1, 2022

5. Spirit, Come Renew Us (Psalm 104)
(composed by Louise Rathier)
From Louise songbook she released in 2006. In addition to singing it at her concert that year, it was done a few times by St Joseph’s Choir (Ottawa) afterward. My sheet music did not include the piano parts only the basic guitar chords, so took liberties.
Vocals recorded June 30, 2022

6. I Am the Earth
(composed by Glyn Lehman)
I was introduced to this piece via Chris MacLean’s Song Kitchen choir. We sang it at an event in Wakefield in spring 2017 and subsequently I forgot about the song. I found the lyric sheet in my files and rediscovered it online while making this project.
Vocals recorded July 14 and 16, 2022

7. I Dreamed of Rain
(composed by Janet Garrett, arranged by Larry Nickel)
Covid caused the cancellation of the 2020 Musica Viva Spring concert (and the subsequent four biannual concerts). Later in the fall of 2020, the choir tried to keep things going via a small proxy choir that I was party to while others participated via Zoom. This piece was introduced for these sessions and not yet performed by the whole choir for an audience.
Vocals recorded July 17, 2022

8. As a Deer Longs (Psalm 42,43)
(music by Anne Hurley, text by Kevin Quinn)
I performed this with Anne Hurley for Easter 2012 and 2020 at Holy Cross (Ottawa). I have repurposed her practice piano file for this recording.
Vocals recorded June 30, 2022

9. A Rightful Place
(composed by Steve Angrisano)
In 2018, I became part of a small group led Armando Prini and Lindsay Delisle who provide the music for the Saturday mass at Holy Cross every second week. And this song was added to our repertoire in 2021 and is one I plan to include in my next concert.
Vocals recorded July 3, 2022

10. Let’s Search for Tomorrow
(words by Toru Hiro, music by Akinori Osawa)
I was introduced to this song at Kusatsu middle school in Kusatsu Shiga Japan. It was sung by second year students for the school’s singing competition in Autumn1998.
Vocals recorded July 13, 2022

11. I Have Longed
(composed by Mary-Jo Thum)
Back in 1993-1995, Mary Zborowski sang this as a solo piece at the Holy Thursday service at St Joseph’s. In 2020, I was reintroduced to it via recordings of it from 1993 and 1995, and plan to feature it at my own future concert.
Vocals recorded July 3, 2022

12. Rejuvenation
(composed by Tobin Stakes)
This piece in my opinion was a highlight when it was performed at the 2019 Musica Viva concert.
Vocals recorded July 17, 2022

13. And Death Shall Have No Dominion
(poem by Dylan Thomas, music by Sjef Frenken)
The third of three demos I recorded at home in July 2017 before going into the studio to record it for Sjef’s project. As with the other two demos, I added harmonies, but these were not used in the final version. The midi-piano is performed by Sjef.
Vocals recorded July 29, 2017

14. Benediction
(composed by Jamie Loback, text adaption by Christine Burton)
Jamie, director of St Joseph’s music ministry since 2005, composed this in 2010 for departing pastor Richard Kelly. It was performed again another time for a choir concert. I cheated a bit in my version not actually singing the endlessly long held notes in the opening section.
Vocals recorded July 1, 2022

15. Circle of Song
(composed by Tony Turner, arranged by Jane Perry)
This one came to me by way of Chris MacLean’s Song Kitchen Choir in 2018 or 2019. In 2020, I downloaded the sheet music with the intent of introducing to the rest of Sounding Joy but our sessions were halted because of Covid. This was the final song I recorded for this project, so I felt it should also be the closing song.
Vocals recorded July 17, 2022