The poem I Sing Of A Maiden is one of the best known of the anonymous medieval hymns deceptive in its simplicity and full of grace and faith. The setting by Lennox Berkeley also has a deceptivesimplicity but reveals on repeated listenings or performances a harmonic integrity and subtlely that has made it a work that will continue to be performed and enjoyed for a long time to come. Lennox Berkeley wascomposing and having his works performed before he finished school then upon meeting Ravel was introduced to legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris with whom he studied. He mixed with the great artistic and musicalnames of prewar Paris before returning to Britain where he later met and lived with Benjamin Britten before the arrival of Peter Pears in Britten’s life. Berkeley was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Musicand himself composed more than two hundred works of music many of them of enduring value.

Helen Grime wrote this Christmas carol for the Hallé Youth Choir to sing at the close of 2013. The words are from an anonymous medieval cradle song.Grime said of the piece: ?I haven?t written muchchoral music before so it?s really exciting for me. And I know they?re an absolutely fabulous choir. I wanted to write something quite simple in structure and clear in meaning.?

Anonymous medieval melody trasncribed for guitar solo by Venancio Garcia Velasco.

'Nocturns' was written in 1990 and takes its title from one of the divisions of the old Church Office of Matins. The texts from Herrick Lamb and anonymous medieval verse are linked to form a fleeting anxious landscape immediately recognisable by the habitual insomiac. This work for mixed voices two pianos and percussion was commissioned by Manchester Chorale and was first performed in March 1991 at the Royal Northern College of Music.

The Oxford Book of Flexible Carols is the perfect resource for choirs of all types and sizes. Each piece is presented with flexible scoring options clearly explained throughout enabling performance by various combinations of singers. With carols for Advent Christmas New Year and Epiphany and a fabulous range of accessible quality material this is a must-have collection for all choirs at Christmas. 56 flexibly scored carols Suitable for mixed choirs upper-voice choirs choirs with few men unison choirs small choirs and all other groups New flexible arrangements of traditional carols and modern favourites Brandnew carols written specially for the collection Variety of composers including Kerry Andrew Malcolm Archer Alan Bullard Bob Chilcott Stephen Cleobury Cecilia McDowall John Rutter Mack Wilberg and David Willcocks Wide range of material from Medieval to the present day and including wassails gallery carols world carols and spirituals Accessible keyboard accompaniments suitable for Organ (with or without pedals) or Piano

Jesus Reassures His Mother is a setting of medieval lyric poetry written anonymously in the 14th century. The poet recounts a vision of the young Mary rocking the infant Christ to sleep. The child requests hismother to sing a lullaby but alas knowing her child’s fate she is too sad to sing. Jesus tells her that all mothers worry about their children’s futures and insists that she should sing nevertheless. Mary recounts the visit ofGabriel and the events of Christ’s birth but reflects how sad it is to have delivered a child to such a fate. Jesus reassures his mother that he will be with his father in heaven where Mary will come to join Him at the end oftime there to live in eternal bliss. At this point Mary is persuaded by and echoes her child’s reassuring words and she is joined in this by the choir (now representing us all). The vision fades away in the voice of the narratorwhose loneliness and longing return. We learn that it is Christmas Day. This setting grows from the visionary mystical world inhabited by Julian of Norwich whose Revelations of Divine Love provided the inspiration for awork Anne Boyd composed in 1994. The medium has been expanded from the Song Company’s six solo voices used in the Revelations to the double motet choir of the Sydney Philharmonia who commissioned this work for their 75thanniversary. The parts of the infant Jesus Mary the Narrator and the angel Gabriel are taken by choir soloists: soprano alto tenor and bass. The work is situated in the context of Boyd’s personal musical aestheticwhich she describes as the intersection of Christian Love with Buddhist silence.