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This work was commissioned by choral director Stuart Weightman for performance at Saint Kentigern School in Auckland. The brief was to write a work that could be performed by the school’s choir, but which also included a section for the parent’s choral group attached to the school. Also, ideally the work would include something for both groups to sing together. Finally, it should be possible for either of the separate choir sections to stand alone as independent pieces.

The suggested texts were a blessing from a bookmark given to all the boys at the school, and a blessing often used in chapel services. To the first text I added a couple of lines which closely matched the final section of the second text.

The work begins with a blessing in unison and then 2 parts for treble voices. This is followed by a blessing for SAB choir, and then finally the two earlier sections are performed simultaneously.

• Hamilton: A Blessing for Saint Kentigern; computer-set  Year: 2008 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 3  Year: 2011 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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This piece was originally the fifth movement of a short Christmas cycle (“Angels and Shepherds and Wise Men All”) was written in 2012 for the end of year concert by South Auckland Choral Society to be conducted by the composer. The concert included my school choir, St Mary’s Schola, and I was keen to write something that the combined forces (including the soloists) in the concert could sing together.

The cycle doesn’t try to encapsulate the entire Christmas story, but focusses on those characters on the edge of the story – the angels, the shepherds and the wise man. In this piece, the characters who gathered around the infant Jesus are focussed on: the animals, the angels and the shepherds.

• David Hamilton: A Child Lay in a Little Crib - hardcopy score 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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• David Hamilton: A Song of Ruth; audio 

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• The Big Sing Finale 2000  Year: 2000 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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Much of my work is a marriage (or balancing act) between the Western art music tradition and my own position in time and place. Along with many forms, I have had a love for sacred choral music from Mediaeval times through to the present, but in not being a Christian, I have felt a reluctance to set text in which I don’t fully believe.

In reading the work of spiritual author, Eckhart Tolle, I have discovered a new connection with biblical texts. Tolle quotes the line “Be still, and know that I am God” in his book A New Earth, as an example of a universal truth that is at the heart of all religions and belief systems. In this text “God” may be seen as the Christian God, an omnipresent spiritual dimension or the universe personified. This line, and the rest of the text, is from Psalm 46. In setting this text I have found an opening into the world of sacred choral music that aligns with my own beliefs.

Anthony Young

• Young, A.: Be Still; computer-set 

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This short lively piece was originally the final movement of “A Little Easter Cycle” written in 2007 for 3-part mixed-voice choir.

The text is from the Afro-American tradition of spirituals, and tells of the angel rolling the stone away and releasing the risen Christ on Easter Day. It also refers in passing to other characters from the biblical story – Mary arriving at the tomb, the soldiers not knowing what to do, and Pilate with his wise men not knowing what to say.

This re-working of the piece for SSA choir with piano was made early in 2008 for the choir at St Mary’s College, Auckland.

• David Hamilton: De Angel Roll De Stone Away - hardcopy score 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. He was one of the pioneers in the style of poetry known as ‘jazz poetry’. He came from mixed-race ancestry, and in his early years was an educator and advocate for African-American rights. He lived much of his adult life in Harlem, and received numerous honours and awards in his lifetime.

“Shepherd’s Song at Christmas” is a poem in which a young shepherd boy wonders what gift he should take to the infant Jesus. He first suggests a song, then a lamb, and finally he pledges to give his heart.

This setting was made for the annual Christmas concert at St Mary’s College in Auckland. It was written to involve both Mary’s Schola (conducted by the composer) and the school’s younger choir.

• David Hamilton: Shepherd's Song at Christmas - hardcopy score 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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This text, originally in the Catalan dialect, is generally associated with Christmas. It tells of giving various gifts – things that would have been familiar to the writer of the text – to the infant Jesus: raisins, olives, figs, sweet honey etc. There is a metaphorical hint of the events of Easter in the last lines.

The Son of the Virgin was written for a choir workshop with students of Ascham School (Sydney, Australia) when they visited St Mary’s College in Auckland as part of their tour to New Zealand in 2011.

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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• David Hamilton: Walk you in the Light; audio 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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This setting continues a series of pieces using texts from the tradition of the African-American spirituals. It uses typical melodic and rhythmic ideas from pieces in that tradition. The text focuses on the idea, found in Psalm 23, of walking “through the valley of the shadow of death”. If Jesus is our leader, then we need fear nothing, and we shall walk in peace.

• David Hamilton: We Shall Walk Through the Valley - hardcopy score  Year: 2010 

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• David Hamilton: We Shall Walk Through the Valley; audio 

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• The Treble Voice Choral Music of David Hamilton Vol. 4  Year: 2013 

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