Sub Navigation

Search Music:

Search for music by typing a word or phrase in the box below or by selecting one or more categories from the list on the side.

Or search for products by selecting an option below, and typing a word or phrase in the box above

  • Scores
  • CDs and DVDs
  • Downloads
  • Education Resources

David Hamilton  

A Child Lay in a Little Crib

Duration: 02' 05" Year: 2012
for solo soprano, SSA choir and piano

  • Programme Note

    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.

  • Availability

David Hamilton  

Ave Maris Stella

Duration: 04' 40" Year: 2012
for SSA choir with singing bowl

  • Programme Note

    Ave Maris Stella (“Hail, star of the sea”) is a plainsong Vespers hymn to Mary. It was especially popular in the Middle Ages. The creation of the original hymn has been attributed to several people, including Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century), Saint Venantius Fortunatus (6th century) and Hermannus Contractus (11th century). The text is found in a 9th century manuscript in the Abbey of Saint Gall (St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland).

    The piece uses little material other than the original chant melody. It is presented against a single sustained pitch from the singing bowl which sounds throughout. The work uses a mix of fully notated and semi-improvised music to create an atmospheric response to the text. Only the first and last verses of the text are used, with the choir only ever singing the first verse, and two solo voices singing the final verse.

    “Ave Maris Stella” was written for St Mary’s Schola (St Mary’s College, Auckland).

  • Availability

David Hamilton  

Come sleep. Oh sleep.

Duration: 04' 40" Year: 2012
for SSAA choir and piano

  • Programme Note

    This sonnet, by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), is part of a long sequence of poems titled “Astrophel and Stella”, which tracks the development of a love affair between the narrator (Astrophel) and the virtuous, intelligent, idealized Stella. Stella had a real-life counterpart who Sidney loved, yet eventually saw marry another man.

    The thirty-ninth sonnet is “Come sleep. Oh sleep, the certain knot of peace” in which the narrator personifies Sleep. He prays that Sleep will come and release him from his current state of misery – only through sleep will he be able to be free from the war raging between his head and his heart, between reason and love. All he seeks is “…smooth pillows, a sweetest bed, a chamber deaf of noise and blind of light”. He rationalizes that he can entice Sleep by promising that the image of Stella will appear in his dreams, and Sleep will be able to watch. This would be the greatest tribute he could pay. The narrator prefers Stella to appear in his dreams, because he then need not face the reality that she is not his own.

    “Come sleep. Oh sleep” was commissioned by Euphony (Kristin School, Auckland) and conductor David Squire.

  • Availability

Samuel Holloway  

Dualities 2

Duration: 01' 30" Year: 2012
for solo violin

David Hamilton  

Ecce beatam lucem

Duration: 02' 20" Year: 2012
for SSAATTBB unaccompanied choir

  • Programme Note

    The text of this work comes from the 40-part motet of the same name by Alessandro Striggio (c1540-1592). His work was the likely inspiration for the better-known 40-part motet of Thomas Tallis “Spem in alium”. It is believed that Striggio wrote the text himself. Striggio wrote both sacred and secular music, and all his surviving music is vocal (although often with instrumental doublings clearly indicated).

    “Ecce beatam lucem” is a hymn of praise to the sun and more generally to all of creation, and by analogy to the power of God shown through his creation.

    This piece was written for Choralation (Westlake Girls’ and Westlake Boys’ High Schools) and conductor Rowan Johnston who had requested a ‘fireworks’ piece – something short, bold and dramatic.

  • Availability

Karlo Margetic  

Et consumimur igni

Duration: 02' 00" Year: 2012
for SSA choir

Yvette Audain  

Flowers of the Forest

Duration: 02' 00" Year: 2012
A short arrangement, for unaccompanied clarinet, of this traditional Celtic lament

  • Programme Note

    This is a traditional Celtic lament to the deaths of James IV, many of his nobles, and over 10,000 men – the titular “Flowers of the Forest” – at the Battle of Flodden Field in northern England in 1513, a significant event in the history of Scotland. The original composer is unknown.

    These days the tune is widely incorporated into funerals and memorial services, hence my being requested to transcribe, arrange and perform this version for the funeral of my beloved grandmother in September 2012.

  • Availability

Aaron Lloydd  

Fundamental obligations of lawyers

Duration: 04' 00" Year: 2012
for SATB choir and orchestra

Chris Artley  

I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes (Psalm 121) - SATB with keyboard accompaniment

Duration: 04' 30" Year: 2012
for SATB choir and keyboard

David Hamilton  

Little Lord of Light

Duration: 02' 10" Year: 2012
a Christmas choral work for 2-part treble voices and piano

  • Programme Note

    The original title for this short poem was simply “Christmas” – here I have taken the last line as a more interesting title. The text tells, in short lines, of the traditional images surrounding the birth of Jesus.

    The poem is variously credited to Mary I., or Mary I. Osborn, of whom nothing is known, although one or two poems appear on the internet.

    “Little Lord of Light” was written for conductor Susanna Saw and Kuala Lumpur Children’s Choir. The choir has performed several pieces of mine, and I had the pleasure of working with them in 2010.

  • Availability