Nico Muhly's Marrow composed for SATB choir unaccompanied with texts from Psalm 63 vv.1–3 6–8 Book of Common Prayer (1662). Commissioned by the Netherlands Chamber Choir for the project 150 Psalms to be premiered by the Tallis Scholars during Utrecht Early Music Festival September 1st 2017. Duration: c. 3 minutes. 'Last September in one weekend in Utrecht settings were sung of all 150 Psalms by 150 different composers covering 1000 years of choral music. The Tallis Scholars were one of the four choirs taking part and among their contributions was this new piece by Nico Muhly. The words are from the Book ofCommon Prayer version of Psalm 63 with the title teasingly taking one word from ‘My soul shall be satisfied even as it were with marrow and fatness.’ Cries of ‘O God’ provide a fluid background to an almost plainchant-like proclamation of the text at start and finish with other voices gradually joining the psalm text in the central section until all unite on ‘when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips’. For a choir happy to subdivide into 4S 2A 2T and 2B it is a setting of imagination and beauty.' - Sunday by Sunday
