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Carol Shortis  

An Tuiream Bais

Duration: 06' 00" Year: 2009
a Gaelic death dirge for a cappella SSAATTBB choir

  • Programme Note

    The Carmina Gadelica, known in Gaelic as Ortha nan Gaidheal, is a six-volume collection of orally-transmitted prayers, poems, blessings and other material, collected by the folklorist Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the second half of the nineteenth century. Carmichael subsequently translated this material, and edited the first two volumes. The death dirge An Tuiream Bais was published in the third volume, edited by Alexander’s grandson, James Carmichael Watson. I have set the first, fourth, fifth and sixth verses in the original Gaelic language.

  • Availability

Neville Hall  

And saw the waves taking form as crystal

Duration: 10' 00" Year: 2002, r. 2003
for mixed choir

  • Instrumentation
    for either 12 solo voices (SATB) or 36 voice SATB choir
  • Programme Note

    This is the fifth consecutive piece for which I have taken the title from Ezra Pound’s “Cantos”. “And saw the waves taking form as crysta” struck me as being particularly musical, purely in metrical and phonetic terms. Initially, it was the phonetic content that was of particular interest to me, because I intended to break the line of poetry into its phonetic components and use these sounds as the basic material for the composition. As the listener will hear, this is, in fact, what I did. The complete line of text, with only a slight modification, can be heard towards the end of the work, but in “slow motion”, spread over some 60 seconds. What precedes this “exposition” is its own detailed deconstruction into some 88 “variations”, which simultaneously break down and develop its material. These 88 events are often layered and interact in a rather complex way, so are not heard as distinct or self-contained sound objects. Although I was originally more interested in the text for its sonic qualities, while working with it I became intrigued by the image of waves “taking form as crystal”. It seemed like an apt metaphor for the compositional process itself, with the fluid and mobile potential of sonic material gradually crystallising into a specific gestalt, interacting and connecting with surrounding material. The water image also encouraged me to follow through with an idea that I had been thinking about for some time – the notion of rhythmic fields radiating outwards from specific points in time, like ripples on the surface of a pond. The composition contains hundreds of these “ripple” structures, which overlap and interact with one another. The resulting rhythms were used to determing subdivisions of glissandi, timbral profiles and other features within the web of “events” that make up the composition. “And saw the waves taking form as crystal” was commissioned by the Radio Slovenia Chamber Choir. It is dedicated to Uros Rojko, with thanks for his support and encouragement during my first ten years in Slovenia.

  • Availability

Anthony Young  

Be Still

Duration: 03' 30" Year: 2009
for SATB choir

  • Programme Note

    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

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Pepe Becker  

Cancer Two: "T'amo mia vita"

Duration: 03' 00" Year: 2001
for uncaccompanied chamber choir

Eve de Castro-Robinson  

Flourish

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 2001
for SATB choir and full orchestra

David Hamilton  

Full Moon Rhyme

Duration: 03' 20" Year: 2008
for SSA choir and piano

Rosemary Russell  

God's Grandeur

Duration: 02' 00" Year: 2003
for SATB choir

Juliet Palmer  

Gone

Duration: 05' 00" Year: 2005
for a cappella choir

Andrew Baldwin  

Haec Dies

Duration: 02' 30" Year: 2007
for SSATTBB choir

  • Programme Note

    Haec Dies is a short introit written in 2007 for the Choir during my time as Composer-in-Residence, and is dedicated with thanks to the Companions of Wellington Cathedral who funded the residency. This is a joyful piece set to the following latin words:


    Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: Exultamus et laetemur in ea. Alleluia.


    (This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it. Alleluia.)


    Psalm 117 v 24

  • Availability

David Hamilton  

Holy Night

Duration: 04' 15" Year: 2000
for 8 part treble choir with electronic sounds