Cecilia McDowall: Lo! He Slumbers In His Manger

for SATB unaccompanied

McDowall’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.