Articles

Alpha and Omega is a concise setting for a cappella choir on a text from Revelations (21:1-6). It begins fortissimo with a high statement by the full choir (“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth”), followed by a decrescendo as the notes likewise cascade downward. In the middle section, the choir sections are divided with just the women’s voices in “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with Man.” The male voices return, and as the work reaches its climax with “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” the choir ascends to a full volume, coming full circle to where it began. Though brief at just six minutes, Alpha and Omega is a lovely miniature surely crafted and distinctive...