Born A King: SATB: Vocal Score

The Lass Of Richmond Hill was first composed in 1790 for SATB choir. It has been transposed to the key of C Major and arranged with a Piano reduction by the English composer and conductor Henry Leslie(1822-1896) who was well known for supporting amateur choral groups. The lyrics were written by Leonard McNally (1752-1820) and tell the story of a girl who lives on Richmond Hill whose ?charms all other maids?surpass?.James Hook (1746-1827) was a British composer organist and harpsichordist. He was born in Norwich but spent his working life in London teaching giving recitals and composing operas and other vocalworks. His music was often performed at both Drury Lane and Covent Garden.

Bernhard Lewkovitch (b. 1927) is a Danish composer born in Copenhagen to Ukrainian parents. Brought up in the Catholic Church he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music but the vast majority of his choral workshave been intended for liturgical use making him somewhat of an outsider to the contemporary Danish classical music world. Twelve Motets from the Spanish Golden Age were collected edited and published in 1971 towards the end of the decade that was the only period Lewkovitch spent working outside the church. They are a testament to his commitment to rediscover and popularise historical compositions from the continentalrenaissance era even while he was experimenting with modern techniques in his own compositions.

Invocation was written for the Choir of The Queen’s College Oxford and represents the culmination of the composer’s time as a research fellow at the college when he worked closely with the choir. Phillip had long been a devotee of Edward Thomas’s evocative poem Adlestrop with its dreamy pastoral feel invoking the very essence of a sultry English country afternoon. It seemed a natural choice to set not least because it mentions the two counties in which he has spent the last seven years Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Phillip wanted the workfurther to emphasise the link with everything we might class as a stereotypical English countryafternoon cricket on the green church bells birdsong and warm beer the mythical ‘middle-England’. His work in no way tries to depict this rather to distil the feeling it is a rhapsody on a theme of English country life that men went to war to preserve something very different from the more rugged landscape he grew up with in the Lake District. The work is called Invocation because it is precisely that a spell or charm something that bewitches the listener and that the composer hopes stays long in the mind rather like Adlestrop or indeed Adlestrop itself.The Novello New Choral Series is an inspiring selection of new works from a range of contemporary composers offering pieces for all types of choirs including sacred and secular works from simple four-part settings to more expansive yet accessible repertoire in an exciting variety of styles. This collection is perfect for choirs looking to broaden their repertoire and explore some of the best new music around.Phillip Cooke was born in Cumbria in 1980 spending his formative years there. He has had works played across the country by many of the country’s top choirs and ensembles. New works in 2011 were featured in the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music John Armitage Memorial Concert Series Choir

John Tavener's Ex Maria Virgine is a sequence of Christmas carols their emphasis on the Nativity and the Virgin Mary. Scored for SATB unaccompanied or with Organ the collection isrepresentative of the broad range of Tavener's choral writing. These carols may be performed as the full sequence or as individual pieces: carols such as Ding! Dong! Merrily on High and Unto Us is Born aSon to familiar texts made novel and exciting or Rocking a simple four-part setting sure to become a favourite with choirs of any accomplishment. Includes a performance CD recorded by the choir of ClareCollege Cambridge.

'Yankee Doodle' with variations is the most concise way to describe the piece commissioned by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra to commemorate Conneticut's participation in The United States Bicentennial. 'Yankee Doodle' a tune dating back to the Middle Ages in Holland and England (and used by the British as early as 1755 to poke fun at untrained American troops in the French and Indian war) is interwoven with other folk and national melodies to stitch a patchwork or a musical collage. It is a personal view of American history.'To explain my approach to They All Sang Yankee Doodle I must explain my own background because the piece is made up ofmusical memories imprinted from early childhood.My earliest musical memories are a juxtaposition of sounds - hymns and Bach chorales from the church next door where my mother was choir director; early twenties jazz from my oldest brother's dance band; classical piano from my middle brother and my mother's piano studio; and cowboy songs and turn-of-the-century ballads that I have always identified with my father. Concord California where I was born was once part of a land grant from the Mexican government and the Spanish-Mexican influence remained strong even as the town expanded from a sleepy settlement into an American microcosmos with a wide variety of ethnic groups. Over fifty years ago most of us who sang 'Yankee Doodle' in Concord could not trace our ancestry to the founding fathers. Those of us with Anglo-Saxon names were at the end of the Westward push our forefathers having left behind the Eastern cities a few generations before settling for a time mid-continent then restlessly pushing further West. Little is known of my paternal grandfather for instance except that he had come to California from Indiana walking across Nevada desert to become one of the first settlers in Mordoc Indian territory.Of course the native American the Indian was there to greet each new migration and it is his

This lively gospel selection will energize every concert! Beginning with the instantly memorable refrain it moves into the famous spiritual Mary Had a Baby then begins a slow build to a joyous conclusion. Available: SATB. Duration: ca. 2:30.

Anna R. Matthews writes: 'Frederick Niven's poem tells the story of Christmas in 1914. On Christmas Day a truce was spontaneously enacted by the two sides fighting in Flanders in World War One. This was five months into the war which until this point many in Britain had confidently believed would be over by that time. When the two sides lay down their weapons in the name of humanity and met in the middle of no-man's-land they would not have realised the bloodshed that was to come as the war dragged on for a further four years - a conflict so atrocious that it came to be known as 'the war to end all wars'.This carol conveys the unknowing innocence of thosemen and the joy of Christmas yet explores the sinister context in which they met and the future which was to come. Ultimately the events of the 1914 Christmas truce came to symbolise the universality of hope and peace at Christmas. This carol brings this message into the twenty-first century.' Anna R. Matthews is a composer living in Exeter England. Born in Devon Anna studied music at Durham University where she was awarded the Rosalind Dickinson Prize. She enjoys working with some of today's most talented and creative ensembles: from Psappha to EXAUDI and from cathedral choirs to youth ensembles. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and she has been a featured new music composer in Choir & Organ magazine. Anna was a finalist in the 2011 King James Bible Composition Awards and is a 2013/24 Arts Council England fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

A Christmas Cantata-Born A King is brilliant unfolding of the Christmas story. The Cantata begins with a number of prophetic passages and proceeds through the main events of that glorious night. SATB with solos for Soprano Alto Tenor & Baritone together with scripture narration. Organ accompaniment.