Samuel Barber: Stopwatch And Ordnance Map Complete: Voix Basses et Ensemble

Written in 1940, this work is a setting of a lament for one of the fallen in the Spanish Civil War by Stephen Spender. The scoring for male chorus with percussion and brass accompaniment gives the piece an appropriatewartimefeeling. Percussion sounds precede the entrance of the chorus, and a constant marching rhythm underscores the first stanza. The second is both more static and intense. In the third, the marching rhythm returns but isovercome bythe intense lament of the voices.