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Download an an MP3 file of a performance of this work by Sounding Joy!, Marjorie Drysdale, conductor.
(a CD recording is available from Sounding Joy!)
Download an an MP3 file of a performance of this work by the Harvard University Choir, Edward Elwyn Jones, conductor.
(Photograph of the "Sounding Joy! Singers" of Randolph, Vermont.)
Sounding Joy is based on a fuging tune by 18th-century composer and horse breeder, Justin Morgan, a resident of Randolph, Vermont. This new version starts with the original song, to be sung in rousing (perhaps four-square) early New England style. The music then evolves into more contemporary and joyous language, with syncopated rhythms and a bouncing bass. The energy builds into a final chord of mixed tonalities, perhaps an homage to New England composer Charles Ives.
Sounding Joy was created especially for the "Sounding Joy! Singers," a small chorus from Randolph, Vermont -- neighbors and friends of the composer.
Notes by the composer