Program note:

My relationship with the Canticles started when I joined the ORNC-chapel choir in the fall of 2023 (my first Mag & Nunc was the Stanford in C). Though I’m not particularly christian myself, I found in the texts something that spoke beyond the strictly religious. The pairing of the two texts is striking; the first giving thanks for the miracle of life, and the second a beautiful welcoming of death. Naturally, this contrast allows for music that can explore many different moods and facets; a dream for any composer. So when the opportunity presented itself to compose a setting myself, I  knew I had to do it.

This Magnificat is mostly jubilant in nature, but the dynamic  contrasts of loud and soft are very important. Loud, as the organist will know, means LOUD: the first Gloria should really blow the roof off. This is important not just for the Magnificat, but also so that the effect of the Nunc is heightened by the contrast. 

I owe much of this music to my experiences as a chapel chorister, singing through more settings of these texts than I can count, but I hope I have managed to bring something new to these texts. In any case, I have done my very best to treat them with the respect they deserve, and hope that some of the excitementI felt when writing them has spilled over into the music. 

-Oskar Österling, 2024