Category: Choral Music / Orchestral Music / Sacred Music
Instrumentation: treble voices, SATB chorus, orchestra; also available in reduced instrumentation for treble voices (or children's choir), french horn, trumpet, organ, piano and timpani.
Duration: approximately 9 minutes
Text / Source: Poem by Dylan Thomas
Recording: And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And Death Shall Have No Dominion is a substantial choral-orchestral setting of Dylan Thomas’s powerful poem. Scored for treble voices, SATB chorus, and orchestra, the work presents the text as a forceful declaration of the promise of everlasting life, shaped with vivid imagery, emotional breadth, and a strong sense of affirmation.

The piece belongs both to Baxter’s choral catalog and to his orchestral writing, using the full ensemble to heighten the poem’s dramatic and spiritual scope. Although not tied to a single liturgical tradition, the text’s expansive vision allows the work to speak naturally in sacred, commemorative, and concert contexts. The reduced version, with organ, piano, trumpet, percussion, and children’s choir, offers an alternate performance option for programs or venues where full orchestra is not practical.

Musically, the work is built around two principal melodic ideas, the most prominent of which returns each time the title words appear. This recurring material gives the piece formal clarity and emotional continuity, while Baxter’s lyrical, tonally grounded language supports both the romantic sweep and vivid descriptive force of the poem. The result is moving, direct, and powerfully cumulative, concluding with strength and conviction.

And Death Shall Have No Dominion is suited to upper-intermediate to advanced choruses and is appropriate for choral-orchestral concerts, sacred music programs, memorial or remembrance events, and contemporary classical programming. Its combination of poetic grandeur, accessible spiritual resonance, and large-scale vocal writing makes it a compelling work for conductors seeking a serious and affirming choral statement.