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i thank You God for most this amazing day

by Nicolas Lell Benavides

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about

This is a celebratory piece written in awe of the natural forms and the ways in which they have inspired artists since the beginning. More than anything I enjoy sitting outside in the sunlight, pondering the beauty of it all and allowing my mind to wander. I love everything from the small local park bench to the majestic mountains and waterfalls in Yosemite. The middle stanza felt especially personal to me, as often there comes a point when I am sitting outside where I cannot imagine anything other than the sunny day itself, complimented by the sounds, smells, and feelings of earth, which gives the impression of being both finite and infinite all at once. This piece was written for the SFCM Choral Composition Competition and was premiered by the International Orange Chorale, with Zane Fiala conducting.

lyrics

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping, greenly spirits of trees,
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

- e.e. cummings

credits

released June 4, 2014
Sung by: International Chorale of San Francisco
Zane Fiala, artistic director

IOC Singers:
Joel Jay Baluyot
Joseph Blodgett
Mari Castaldi
Maggie Changala
Fausto Daos
Allison Dedrick
Jon Diaz
Rebecca Edwards
Rebecca Eiseman
Alison Ellsworth
Ruvani Fonseka
Brian Fujimoto
Meredith Hawkins
Rachel Herbert
Kyle Hovatter
Karoun Kasraie
Hilary Jenson
Mandy Lai
Stephen Lind
Sam Maurer
Simona Nass
Alana Price
Jaime Raba
Joshua Saulle
Karen Scruggs
Jane Spencer Mills
Mark Sumner
Brian Vanderpol
Jeff Wang
Evan Warfel
Nick Weininger
Zeb Wilkes

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Nicolas Lell Benavides Long Beach, California

Nicolas is a composer living in Los Angeles, CA

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