Welcome to my July 2024 newsletter, which replaces my usual ‘Piece of the Week’ for this week. As well as the usual list of performances and new publications there is a particular focus on repertoire for unaccompanied choir categorised by subject matter to help with concert planning.
Last week I went to a concert of choral music by composers associated with Essex, and a few weeks ago to another one focussed on the sky, birds, and flight, and it reminded me how a thematic focus is often a good way of programme building. So this month I’m going to list some of my unaccompanied pieces for mixed choirs, with a focus for each one.
THEMATIC FOCUS – mixed choir unaccompanied
Music that might fit into a concert focused on peace, beauty, calm
Beauty, joy (a contemplative setting of Keats, with divisi plus two soloists – about 5 mins.)
My Song (This Song of mine) (a setting of Tagore, lots of parallel chords and rich harmonies, also available in a different accompanied version) – about 3 minutes.
Peace in the World (a movement from Images of Peace, broadcast by BBC Singers but not too difficult!) about 3 minutes
Rise up, my love (a setting of part of the Song of Solomon, focussed on beauty and springtime – with optional keyboard accompaniment) – about 5 mins.
Images of Peace (a cantata of five movements focussing on different aspects of peace, all performable separately)
If there were dreams to sell (an unaccompanied movement from This is our World)
The spacious firmament (by turns calm and dramatic: SSAATTBB and needs an experienced choir)
Music that might fit into a predominantly Renaissance or Baroque programme
Four Sacred Songs (a cycle of four settings of Thomas Campion, can also be performed separately) – 9-10 mins.
Never weather-beaten sail (a calm and peaceful setting of the Campion poem from Four Sacred Songs)
Madrigal Book (a cycle of four settings of Renaissance poems – not easy, but colourful)
Broom-pedlar’s Song (a short and lively setting of a sixteenth-century poem about a market-trader)
Music that celebrates the joy of singing
My Song (This Song of mine) (a setting of Tagore, lots of parallel chords and rich harmonies, also available in a slightly different accompanied version) – about 3 minutes
Alleluia (a rhythmic and joyful setting, sometimes used as a concert opener)
Learn to sing! (a jolly song based on a couplet of William Byrd and some fairly silly words added by the composer)
Times and seasons
A Summer Garland (choral suite of five movements, also performable separately)
Spring Night (the poem by the early twentieth century Canadian poet Bliss Carman) – about 4 minutes)
When June is come (a short and expressive song with rich harmony)
A Year in a Day (a choral suite with a movement for each season – SSAATTBB, suitable for more experienced choirs)
The night is darkening round me (the well-known Emily Bronte poem)
November (a movement from Choristers of Flight)
Birds and beasts
Choristers of Flight (choral suite: three movements about birds)
Busy Fly (a short lively song from ‘A Summer Garland’involving a little ‘buzzing’ as well as singing)
Four Bird Songs (settings in two parts with various performance options, in The Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs)
The Wild Swans at Coole (an evocative movement from Three Poems of W B Yeats)
Humour
Christmas Recipe (an eighteenth-century recipe for an enormous Christmas dinner)
Busy Fly (a short lively song from ‘A Summer Garland’involving a little ‘buzzing’ as well as singing)
Learn to sing! (a jolly song based on a couplet of William Byrd and some fairly silly words added by the composer)
Christmas
Christmas Recipe (an eighteenth-century recipe for an enormous Christmas dinner)
(I’ll list some Christmas Carols another time)
PUBLICATIONS AND PERFORMANCES
New Colne Edition publications include:
Canticle of Freedom (A Song for Peace) – this 45-minute cantata is 25 years old this year
Patapan (an arrangement of the French traditional folk carol that I wrote for a small church choir last Christmas)
O Little One Sweet (an arrangement incorporating the traditional German melody)
To God be the Glory (an easy arrangement in the Colne Prayer and Praise for Choirs series
Three Blues for Clarinet and Piano (three colourful pieces inspired by blues harmony)
Three Blues for Alto Saxophone and Piano (the same, in an Alto Sax version)
Six Dances for Small Orchestra (an arrangement for small orchestra of my Six Dances for Four Hands)
Also newly published are Volume 8 and Volume 9 of the Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists series (edited jointly by Rebecca Groom te Velde and myself, and with contributions from both of us and featuring many more composers) and a hymn-tune prelude on ‘Sussex’ in the collection Be Still for the Presence vol. 1 ( Church Organ World). And new publications from GIA and Banks Music Publications are on the way too!
Recent performances include:
Choristers of Flight, Elysian Singers/Sam Laughton, 25 May, Eaton Square, London
Endless Song, Colchester Choral Society/Ian Ray, 22 June, Colchester
My Song (This Song of mine), unaccompanied version, Felicitas/Simon Winters, 29 June, Epping (first performance of this version)
Mr Lear, Vivace Chorus/Jeremy Backhouse, 6 July, Guildford
Three English Folk-Songs, Kelvedon Singers/Christopher Phelps, 6 July, Coggeshall
Thank you for reading!