John Rutter: Christ our Emmanuel (SATB)

14
jun

John Rutter: Christ our Emmanuel (SATB) A lilting 3/4 metre carries the listener through this familiar Christmas story, beautifully depicted in a text by the composer. Rutter employs artful word-painting throughout, and the verse-refrain structure enables the compelling melody to soon become as familiar as any traditional carol of the season. Christ our Emmanuel may […]

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McGlade: My beloved spake

14
jun

This is a beautiful and dynamic setting of well-known words from the Song of Songs (or Song of Soloman). With a soaring soprano melody, McGlade’s fluid vocal lines drive harmonic twists within an immediately accessible sound-world. Perfect for concert performance

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McGlade: Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life (SATB)

14
jun

McGlade’s setting of ‘The Call’ by George Herbert is simple but effective, reflecting the directness of the original poem. The three-bar phrases create a feeling of expectancy throughout the verses, and are beautifully intensified by harmonic shifts in one verse and a soaring descant in another.

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Let all mortal flesh keep silence

14
jun

Let all mortal flesh keep silence is a reflective, homophonic setting of text from the fourth-century Orthodox Liturgy of St James. Sheehan’s setting, an original rather than the customary pairing with the hymn tune ‘Picardy’, is steeped in the Orthodox tradition, and has pure harmonies and a beautiful stillness

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Cecilia McDowall: Lo! He Slumbers In His Manger

14
jun

for SATB unaccompaniedMcDowall’s setting of Isaac Watts’ Cradle Hymn is beautifully tender, coloured by its rich harmonies, suspensions, and chromatic notes. The melodies are complemented by sustained ‘oo’s and ‘ah’s and rock gently with the changing time signatures, before ending unexpectedly in the tonic major.

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