Johanna Gill

The Lord's Blessing

This work is a reflective setting of a popular blessing used regularly in both church services and within choral concerts. Scored for unaccompanied mixed choir, the four parts are often divided to create an eight-part texture. The main melodic interest is carried in the soprano line over a supporting line of six parts provided by the lower voices. Within this short setting a variety of beautiful shifting choral combinations are used: sopranos and tenors against altos and basses, sopranos against altos, tenors and basses and finally alto and tenor lines which lead into the concluding six-part texture ending on a radiant E major chord spread over three octaves. Within these voice combinations we hear a choral texture which spans just the interval of a perfect fifth to the concluding three octave final chord, creating a wide palette of choral sound in a short space of time. Joanna herself says the following about this work: I wrote 'The Lord’s Blessing' in 2018. That year, I had been on tour to New York with the London Symphony Chorus and we got the privilege to spend a day with the Westminster Choir College. At the end of the day they sang a blessing over us and I thought it was such a beautiful moment. So as soon as I got home I wrote a short blessing that I imagined would be sung at the end of a concert as a blessing over the audience. I dedicate it to the LSC.