The Lake Isle

SATB, acoustic guitar, piano, string quartet
Lyrics: W.B. Yeats
Language: English
Duration: 6:15

 
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

 
Guitar is one of my absolute favorite instruments, and while acoustic guitar can sometimes be too soft to be heard properly in a choral context – amplified, it works beautifully. Based on a guitar pattern improvised by frequent collaborator Kristian Kvalvaag, The Lake Isle was commissioned by a consortium of American university choirs, assembled by University of Southern California’s Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe.