In Quiet April

Peaceful and meditative, this gentle and brief Marian anthem is based on a medieval English text and employs the Mixolydian mode to evoke this ancient provenance. It begins with an unaccompanied solo voice, which is joined after a time by a cappella SATB choir, who, at first, simply sing in unison. The piece slowly builds in texture to encompass four independent voices, closing again with the solo voice, but now supported by a wordless pedal point in the chorus.