“Angels We Have Heard On High” now in print!

Is it too early to think about Christmas? Of course it isn’t. Because I just got a present that I think some of you might want to use for Christmas too:

My choral arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard On High” is now in print and available from GIA Publications! Just got the package of composer’s copies in the mail tonight. They look very Christmasy with the little stylized fir tree on the cover. And my name, of course, which is always a fun little rush–spelled right, even.

The inside is fun too:

It’s a snazzy little acapella arrangement (SATB) that floats in and out of mixed meters and unexpected harmonies. I had a lot of fun writing it and I’ve used it a few times with church choirs. If you know any choirs that would be interested, let them know!

My cat, of course, is completely unimpressed.

“Angels We Have Heard On High” (SATB acapella) is available from GIA Publications (G-7603) and your favorite local music supplier. For more information try this link. (There’s a nice little bio of me somewhere there too, if you poke around a bit.)

Gloria in excelsis!

For those who want to hear what the arrangement sounds like, there’s an excellent recording here from the folks at Stanton’s Listening Library. Thanks! Link: Angels We Have Heard on High 

And the piece got a very kind review in the journal Pastoral Music:

This arrangement of the well-know French carol “Angels We Have Heard on High” is a fresh, exciting, and well-crafted piece, standing apart in its unique harmonic progressions and complex meter changes. It is a fairly short a cappella piece, beginning with women’s voices in G major. The 7/8 meter alone leads to the piece having a lively spirit; taking the brisk tempo marking (quarter note equals 140) only adds to its exciting character. […] This verse also includes some surprising – and wonderful – shifts in tonality. Added to the many asymmetric meters and meter changes, the tonal shifts keep one waiting in anticipation for what will happen next. The piece concludes exuberantly and does not leave the listener disappointed.

– Pastoral Music, vol. 36, no. 5. Review of “Angels We Have Heard on High” (GIA, G-7603), September 2012, p. 37.

AuthorEric Pazdziora

Composer, Author, Pianist

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