Dear friends,
Welcome to my early summer newsletter!
Twenty years ago, Oxford University Press published the first book in the Pianoworks series, written jointly by my wife Jan and myself. We’re still very proud of that original book, and are delighted that OUP have just published the tenth book in the series – Pianoworks Meditations. Music for calm and peace, music to relax, inspired by the natural world, beautiful places, thoughts, and ideas, ranging from approx. Grade 1 to Grade 3 level. Here’s a link to a playlist of some of the pieces, and here’s a link to the publisher’s website.
OUP have also recently published two collections for smaller choirs who prefer to sing in unison, with the occasional optional second part. Called Voices as One, there are two books at the moment and I have one piece in each: Scots Nativity in the Christmas collection, and Song to the Moon in the Choral Songs collection. Song to the Moon was commissioned and first performed by the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas in 2019: Scots Nativity, which I wrote nearly 25 years ago, is probably my most performed carol, and there are versions for almost every vocal combination, and with piano, small orchestra, or brass quintet accompaniment. And my Epiphany carol, Star of the East, is included (as Stern aus dem Osten), alongside my straightforward harmonisation of Away in a Manger (Da draußen im Stalle) in the new OUP German-language publication Weihnachts Carols for Choirs. Details here.
Talking of carols (and if you are a choral director, you may well be thinking about them now) here are some fairly recent ones:
Sweet babe, sang she (sung last Christmas by The Sixteen at London’s Cadogan Hall, and recorded last year by St. Martins Voices) is an unaccompanied cradle-song for soprano solo and SATB. Details and recordings here.
Another unaccompanied SATB carol, which has recently been issued as a digital download from OUP (via Sheet Music Plus), is A Light for Today, a setting of a text by Longfellow. Details and recording here. This calm and reflective carol is a movement from the cantata ‘A Light in the Stable’, also published by OUP.
Great Joy, Glad Joy! comes in two versions, SA or SATB, both with keyboard. This is an original setting of a translation of an old German text welcoming Jesus’ birth and its meaning for us over the centuries. Details and recording here.
Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep is an arrangement for SATB and keyboard of the traditional Czech ‘Rocking Carol’ which has recently been selected as a JW Pepper ‘Editor’s Choice’ in the USA. I directed its first performance at a little village church in 2024, and it was written with small parish church choirs in mind. More details and recording here
Another carol, written for the same small church choir the year before, is O Little One Sweet. This one has an original melody which is later combined with the traditional setting, attributed to JS Bach. It is for three-part voices, SABar, with keyboard. More details and recording here.
There are plenty more carols on the way, which I’ll tell you about another time!
The Joy of Song
I’m looking forward to another performance of Endless Song, by the original commissioners, the Waltham Singers (director Andrew Fardell). This cantata celebrates the joy of singing, and includes settings of texts by Walt Whitman, James Weldon Johnson, and Rabindranath Tagore – like the first performance, this is in Great Waltham Church, Essex, and it is on 20 June – this time with piano accompaniment rather than strings. Here’s a link to the first performance.
Mersey Reflections
My most recent instrumental piece, Mersey Reflections, written for recorder player John Turner, gets its first performance at a lunchtime concert at St. John’s Church in Sale, Greater Manchester on 18 June at 12.30, played by John Turner (recorder), Richard Simpson (oboe) and Janet Simpson (piano). I wrote this portrait of the various Peak District rivers (which join together to become the River Mersey in Stockport) just last month, and a recording is planned soon of the version for recorder, oboe, and string quartet.
Recent performances
There have been at least four performances of Wondrous Cross during Holy Week including one in the Netherlands.
Two other shorter choral pieces, The Windhover, and Spring Morning were sung by the Elysian Singers, conductor Sam Laughton on 6 June at the Unitarian Chapel in York . The Elysians have performed a number of my pieces over the years and I was sorry that I was unable to get there this time.
One of my earliest pieces, Six Miniatures was recently recorded for YouTube by harpsichordist Sean Crego – listen here. I wrote these pieces for clavichord in 1975 – they’ve never been published but revisiting them makes me think they might be enjoyed by others so I will typeset them from the original manuscript and make them available soon, as a digital download.
Upcoming publications from GIA Music (USA)
Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee – an arrangement of Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy from the Ninth Symphony, with words by Henry van Dyke, for SABar and organ/piano
God is here on earth – an arrangement of the traditional Austrian melody Still, Still, Still, with words by me, for SABar and organ/piano
Now the holly bears a berry – an arrangement of the traditional ‘Sans Day Carol, from Cornwall, for SABar and organ/piano
These are at proof stage, so should be published in the next month or two – the digital download of ‘Joyful, Joyful’ is already available here
Musical Journeys
Some readers may have noticed that I have paused posting a ‘Piece of the Week’ on my website and on Facebook. The reason is simply that I am very busy with new projects. And although ‘Piece of the Week’ may not appear regularly for the time being, I have started posting the occasional video blog called Musical Journeys. In them I talk about musical developments in the last century and how they affected and influenced me (and others). There are only two so far, but you can find them here.
Thank you for reading!
Alan