With its distinctive opening, this piece is a familiar staple of Easter. The sopranos enter with the clear, bright theme which defines much of the piece.
The rest of the choir enters in unison, building intrigue, before bursting into a fast-paced, energetic harmony. To prevent the section from climaxing too early, Stanford pulls the choir back to parallel thirds, with the tenors and basses respectively doubling the sopranos and altos. This allows a further growth when four-part harmony is re-introduced. Like cards, the parts are collected back into unison, bringing the first section towards its close. As a final flourish, Stanford gives a repeat of the opening theme, now with full choir in full harmony. A return to unison again brings closure to the section.
Throughout the piece, the organ maintains the flow and motion — though it occasionally holds back, giving space for the choir to stand out. This is exemplified in the modulation to the minor key, which Stanford makes feel entirely effortless. The bass enters with a simple theme, reminiscent of a fugue. The following tenor entry a third higher strengthens the fugal feel, the counterpoint almost seeming to play with the bass part. The brightness of the soprano entry cuts through the tenor and bass, though it is a little disappointing how quickly Stanford moves on, rather than developing the fugue. Instead, he predictably returns to homophony quite quickly.
Stanford then returns to unison, which allows him to use his standard formula: build, burst into harmony, climax in unison. This time, however, the climax gives way to a much-needed quiet, introspective section. This is probably a good point to praise Stanford’s excellent word-painting: across most of the piece, the words pair excellently to the music.
At the end of the reflective section, the parts fall to unison, which provides a basis to begin building once more. There is very much an ebb and flow to the piece; rising and falling, only to rise once more. Here, the bass part keeps the drive and motion, and the swell begins. The repetitions of the petition to “keep us” stress the anguish felt, as we reach the final climax for the section.
This climax is, once again, the opening theme: now in four-part harmony. After a time together, the tenors and basses fall away to prepare for the start of the Gloria. Here, the two halves of the choir spend some time independently praising the Father and Son, gradually returning for the running of ages eternal. This allows Stanford to crescendo towards a final, climactic cry of Alleluia! At the final “Amen,” the piece crashes joyfully into the buffers. One small point to note here: the ending could likely have been strengthened by keeping the basses together, and replacing the final crotchet D in the tenors with quaver D, C. This would have had a similar effect to the split, whilst maintaining the strength of keeping the bass parts together.
Overall, this piece is rather restless — though Stanford has made a habit of doing practically the same thing over and over again: ebbing and flowing. Despite this, this piece would be good for a choir wanting to bring something light to an Easter service. In particular, this piece provides the sorts of lines which trebles might particularly enjoy.