O Come, Let Us Worship
DOUBLE BASS AND PIANO | 7’
O Come, Let Us Worship is inspired by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (Op. 37), the composer’s Russian Orthodox choral masterpiece. This work for bass and piano aims to reflect the experience of spiritual transcendence through listening to a piece such as Rachmaninoff’s choral work during worship. It begins with the opening music of the first movement of the All-Night Vigil, which gradually disintegrates and fades away, as though the mind is wandering and the soul is being transported. Eventually the original Rachmaninoff disappears completely, as the mind reaches its deepest moment of contemplation, expressed through a long solo passage in the double bass. As the soul returns to the body, the elements of the original choral work slowly piece themselves together until the finale of Rachmaninoff’s chorus triumphantly returns at the end.
Commission
Megan McDevitt, bass
