for SATB unaccompanied
This paean to the divine creation of the world sets part of the Benedicite text from the US Book of Common Prayer. The four unaccompanied voice parts are used to great effect, with phrases often beginning in a strong unison before opening out into rich and colourful harmonies. Helvey highlights the words through the use of homophonic textures and changing time signatures to follow the natural stresses of the text.
In the span of sixty-five measures, Helvey spins out a full ternary form, responding to the groupings found in the BCP text, and he creates a satisfying musical world in miniature . . . This sort of neat tonal planning, so characteristic of this fine composer, lends heft to this brief anthem, making it feel very complete. A performance note explaining the part division in the final two chords implicitly endorses performance of the work by a solo quartet, thus this joyful setting would work well for choirs of all sizes and experience levels.