Video Information

• Choir: Mathew Curtis – Choral Tracks
• Piece: As dawn breaks
• Composer:  Erik Satie
• Arranger:  David Rain
• Voices:  SATB with divisi
• Sheet Music:   www.leadingnote.com/produ...  
• Genres: A cappella, Classical, Contemporary, Impressionistic
• Erik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try.
  
  Creating a choral adaptation of a pi...  moreErik Satie's Sarabande No. 1 is one of my favourite piano pieces. For a long time, I felt there was an a cappella choral piece hiding within it, in plain sight. One day I got inspired and gave it a try.
  
  Creating a choral adaptation of a piano piece has its challenges. I tried to keep faithful to Satie's original musical inspiration and created lyrics to go with my arrangement that evoke an early summer morning, one of my favourite times of the year.
  
  Several months later, I applied to be a participant at one of the Vancouver Chamber Choir's Interplay workshops funded by the SOCAN Foundation and to my delight I was accepted.
  
  "As dawn breaks" was one of the pieces that this amazing choir sight read for me on the spot. VCC director Jon Washburn and choir members then provided me with valuable feedback, for which I am very grateful.
  
  NB: One day I woke up to the realization that I had independently written four choral works, each of which had evoked a different season, and so it seemed natural to group them together into a choral suite that I have called "The Ottawa Four Seasons Suite."
  
  "As dawn breaks" works perfectly as the opening number of this suite.
  
  Finally, my instruction to choirs is to sing "as if in a painting", and indeed I invite any artists who might draw inspiration from this piece to consider creating a companion work of art to accompany it.
  
  Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (choraltracks.com) for recording "As dawn breaks."
  
  Email me at rain@magma.ca, if you'd like more info, or to obtain a copy of the score.
  
  I would also like to acknowledge the a capella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years.
  
  And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and my friend Geneviève Lajoie for their invaluable support throughout my composing journey.  less