The Awakening Age (2000)
Youth choir in two parts and piano.
Originally part of the cantata Prime Meridian, this setting of the poem by Ben Okri written for the Oxfam `On the Line’ project celebrates the European and African countries through which the Greenwich Meridian passes. Ben Okri’s poem is a hopeful vision of understanding and co-operation between the peoples of the Earth. It is matched by imaginative, dynamic, and skilful choral writing.
‘The Awakening Age’ is an energetic and forward moving setting of life-affirming words by Ben Okri. Where it occurs, the two-part writing is mainly imitative and could easily be tackled by confident primary or middle-school choirs’ – Music Teacher magazine
‘Pulsates with vitality and energy…use it and win over your junior choir’ – Geoff Weaver, Church Music Quarterly
“To a poem by Ben Okri, originally written for an Oxfam project, Alan Bullard’s music pulsates with vitality and energy. This was originally written for primary school children, but I can see older children relishing its strong melody and syncopated rhythms. The two-part writing is fairly straightforward, there is a lovely contrast in the gentle middle section, and it ends with a bang. Use it and win over your junior choir.” – Church Music Quarterly
Oxford University Press details
Audio extract: