Barnum & Wordsworth - Responsorials

For SATB and piano, this original setting of Maya Angelou's poem, "Prayer" is in a soulful 6/8. (The accompaniment occasionally quotes "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which gives you an idea of the tempo and feeling.) Beginning with a series of thanks, the piece has a slower middle section with a series of petitions, beginning, "For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak." Then the music of the first section reappears and the piece closes with a prayer for peace. This is an unusual and powerful musical offering for any occasion focusing on justice and social concerns.