Sleepsong is a rich, Celtic-inspired song for choirs looking to test their abilities with a new and exciting challenge. Released by Secret Garden in 2005, the song was written by Brendan Graham and Rolf Løvland who also penned the Westlife hit, You Raise Me Up . This beautiful and peaceful choral version has been arranged by Desmond Earley for six part chorus with Soprano solo. It was first performed by UCD Choral Scholars on April 19 2012. The piece is perfect for choruses looking to take their singing forward, with specific directions for staggered breathing throughout offering an added challenge for ensembles. Although designed to be sung A Cappella, the arrangement includes a piano reduction for easy rehearsal. / Choeur SSATBB

Chandons Te Deum HWV 281. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. Handel composed the 'Te Deum? in B-flat major HWV 281 in 1718 for the future Duke of Chandos, hence its nickname 'Chandos Te Deum?. Here it is called 'Te Deum for Cannons? after the Duke's stately home named Cannons where the first performance took place. The unusual scoring for flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, two violins and basso continuo plus a choir (one soprano, three tenors and a bass) probably reflects the musicians which were available at Cannons, bearing in mind that three tenors were used also in 'Acis and Galatea?, the masque which was composed at almost the same time. Though in many respects this 'Te Deum? is reminiscent of the 'Utrecht Te Deum?, its smaller forces tend to give it more the character of chamber music. This edition is based on the Urtext from the 'Halle Handel Edition? (BA 10708), which offers the first complete scholarly text of the music for the 'Te Deum?./ Répertoire / SSATB et Orchestre

Le chant d'action de grâces de la Vierge Marie dans l'Evangile de Luc a inspiré en 2001 à Gérard Hilpipre ce motet pour choeur à 5 voix (SSATB), La voix de soprano-solo en émerge aux moments les plus chargés d'émotion ou d'extase visionnaire, L'ensemble de la composition combine une écriture polyphonique soignée et l'originalité du style propre à l'auteur au service de l'expression religieuse la plus intense, / Choeur Mixte

This work for soprano solo and SATB chorus was commissioned by the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music.Tavener:'In the Orthodox Church the Lament of the Mother of God is normally sung on Holy and Great Friday. Inits full length it lasts about half and hour and it is intoned by the Priest or Bishop while the people venerate the Epitaphios (or Shroud of the Dead Christ) which is in the centre of the church and decorated withflowers.The Lament must be sung with an ikon-like stillness and great purity. It grows in intensity as it climbs in tessitura but without anything sudden or remotely melodramatic.For the Orthodox Church there is never thesense of absolute desolation felt by the Western Church on Good Friday. Hence the cry of the Mother of God 'Dost thou change my grief to gladness by thy Resurrection?' followed by the full forces: 'Rise O God and judge theearth.'Mother of God also features in the film Philomena starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan and directed by Stephen Frears.

Music runs through the story of Arion which begins with a singing competition in Sicily. Arion wins the prize and this puts his life in danger: his newfound wealth excites the greed of the sailors who are supposed to be bringing him back to Corinth and they threaten to kill him. They allow Arion to sing one last song and the power of his singing attracts dolphins to the ship.  At the end of his song he jumps overboard and one of the dolphins carries him to safety.  So Arion’s musical gift gets him into trouble but it is also his salvation.   The idea of being rescued by a music-loving dolphin is very appealing. In Robert Graves’account of the myth the dolphin could not bear to be parted from Arion and accompanied him back to court where “it soon succumbed to a life of luxury.”  However Herodotus says that after his rescue and return to Corinth Arion failed to return the dolphin to the sea and it died there.  Apollo placed the dolphin among the stars and next to it Arion’s lyre in recognition of his musical skill.  This is one of the mythical explanations of the origins of the constellations Delphinus and Lyra. It seems natural to sing a story that has singing at its heart. When I was asked by the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust to write a choral work for Making Music something that would be within reach of many choirs and involve children this story struck me as ideal: the men of the chorus could be the bloodthirsty sailors and the women could create an atmosphere of mystery for the arrival of the dolphins represented by children’s voices. There would be one solo voice: Arion the marvellous singer. Andrew Fardell the conductor who was advisor to this commission had suggested that I might use the same instrumentation as a popular arrangement of Orff’s Carmina Burana a work that as well as using children’s chorus features a solo countertenor. I thought the magical otherworldly quality of this

Adaptation of the motet 'Tristis est anima mea' attributed to Johann Kuhnau. The motet 'Der Gerechte kommt um' comes down to us as part of the Passion cantata 'Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld' by Carl Heinrich Graun into which movements by various other composers including Bach and Telemann were also later inserted. According to the research of Diethard Hellmann editor of this edition the motet was originally an a cappella composition by Johann Kuhnau with the text 'Tristis est anima mea' which then was adapted ? most likely by Bach ? with a new text and the addition of instrumental parts. The motet 'Der Gerechte kommt um' comes down to us as part of the Passioncantata 'Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld' by Carl Heinrich Graun into which movements by various other composers including Bach and Telemann were also later inserted. From the research of Diethard Hellmann editor of this edition the motet was originally an a cappella composition by Johann Kuhnau with the text 'Tristis est anima mea' which then was adapted?most likely by Bach?with a new text and the addition of insturmental parts.

Aus: Deutsche Sonntägliche Evangeliensprüche. Par RASELIUS ANDREAS. for the 17th Sunday after Trinity Sunday / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

For Passion in 1680 Dieterich Buxtehude composed his largest work in the style of an oratorio the cantata cycle Membra Jesu nostri and he dedicated it to his friend the Swedish Court Music Director Gustav Düben. In each of the seven separate cantatas which in principle follow the scheme ?instrumental introduction ? choral movement with biblical texts ? vocal soli (aria) with a sacred text from the Middle Ages ? repetition of the choral movement ? the feet knees hands side chest heart and face of the crucified Christ are interpreted allegorically. The original scoring for strings in No. VI ('Ad Cor') consists of a consort of five gambas. If this group of instruments isnot available then violins I/II can be substituted for gamba I/II and the gamba V parts can be played by the violone (the music for these substitute parts is contained in each respective parts) so that in this case only two gambas (III IV) are needed. For such a performance only two copies of the Gamba performance score (Carus 36.013/16) are required.

From Heaven Distilled a Clemency is the third movement of Triptych a cantata for choir and string orchestra. The aspirational text is underpinned by rhythmically-driving strings allowing the voices to soar excitedly overheard.

Aus: Deutsche Sonntägliche Evangeliensprüche. Par RASELIUS ANDREAS. for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity Sunday / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

My song is love unknown. My song is love unknown is an expressive and fluid setting of the well-known Lenten text by Samuel Crossman. McGlade highlights the phrase 'take frail flesh and die' with a sighing musical motif, before the work closes with the affirmation 'heaven was his home, but mine the tomb where he lay'.

Aus: Israelsbrünnlein. Geistliche Madrigale. Par SCHEIN JOHANN HERMANN. Johann Hermann Schein’s Israelsbrünnlein, published in Leipzig in 1623, is a supreme achievement not only among the works of this composer, who had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig since 1616, but also for the entire body of German music written during the first half of the 17th century. Among the 26 motets written “in the Italian madrigal manner” 23 are settings of Old Testament texts, a fact to which the collection owes its title. The source for the text of this collection is the “inexhaustible fountain” of the Psalms, the books of Moses, the Prophets, the Songs of Solomon, and other books of the Old Testament. / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Sospiro Della Sua Donna. Aus: Italienische Madrigale. Par SCHUTZ HEINRICH. Tonalité : dorisch - SWV 14 (op. 1 #14)/ Répertoire / Choeur SSATB