If You Could Hie to Kolob

At the beginning of this year I set out to write something for my daughter, Jesse.  I wanted to come up with a piano duet that we might perform together, but what to write?  I asked her to name a few of her favorite hymns so that I might make an attempt at arranging.  As soon as she spoke the words If You Could Hie to Kolob, the choice was made since that’s what I secretly had in mind all along.  As I sat down to write, it wasn’t long before I could hear a cello part resonating as well, and so our duet became a trio.

The piece begins with contemplation--mysterious almost, but soon gains in strength and urgency, as one reaching desperately to comprehend greater things.  It’s the music of a soul yearning for higher understanding.

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.”  

                                         -- William Wordsworth

This piece is a lot of fun to play.  Jesse and I made quite a memory performing it at church with our friend, Teresa Herrmann.  I must also mention that Ralph Vaughan Williams has been and always will be one of my greatest heroes!!  His music is sublime.

To download the SHEET MUSIC for the PIANO click HERE
To download the SHEET MUSIC for the CELLO click HERE

P.S. - A while back when my niece and nephew were visiting I asked them to humor me and see what this would sound like with violin and viola.  I threw it at them, we ran through it a couple times and recorded this just for fun.  Justin and Emma, you rock!