Phillip Cooke

I Lift Up My Eyes (2009)

A setting of Psalm 121 for children’s choir.

4′

SSA, pno

I Lift Up My Eyes (pdf)

PROGRAMME NOTE

I Lift Up My Eyes is a simple setting of Psalm 121 for children’s choir, a psalm that I have always been partial to growing up in the Lake District where the words seemed somewhat apt. The piece revolves around a ­moto perpetuum toccata figure in the piano which whirls around throughout the piece, the choir anchoring the music with their heartfelt plea of ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?’ Following this plea more strident music accompanies the powerful statements of the Lord’s might as the choir erupts into a majestic E major. Following more of both the toccata and the strident music, more subdued material ends the piece as soft harmonies accompany the words ‘both now and forever more’.

PAC