Sumer is icumen in. Par ORFF CARL. The first known canon of European art music, now in the British Museum in London, is preserved in a thirteenth-century manusript from the English abbey in Reading: This is the so-called 'summer canon', whose verses greet the advent of summer. An accompanying note elucidates the artistic layer-like construction of the sound structure: a two-voice foundation of bell-like, swinging pendulum tones supports an upper structure of four voices which enter at equal time intervals. The note terms the canon 'rota' - round -, which makes reference to the turning, circling movement of the constantly pulsating sound. The circular figure originates in a vital, ages-old moving force in music-making, and it demands a dance-like execution. But the canon is also, through the interaction of the strictly ordered voice entries, convivially bound musical form. Carl Orff was able to choose no better fitting musical form for the 'Greetings to Youth' at the Olympic Games 1972 in Munich than the medieval rota. In the connexion of the singing voices with the Orff instruments, today in world-wide use, a testimony of European tradition sounds in a living present. / Date parution : 1976-11-20/ Répertoire / Chœur Mixte [Stbar] et Ensemble Instrumental

This is - so far - the earliest composition by Davies to be available for performance and mighty interesting it is. Written while he was still a young student it provides a candid glimpse of the thing that concerned him: howmusic could be both forward-moving in the classical Western sense (this is after all a piece for a wholly conventional medium) and repetitive in the manner of the Indian and medieval music in which he was interested. Whatresults is a singular machine geared to an intermittent ostinato in the first violin.This movement for string quartet was first performed by the Arditti Quartet in May 1983 as part of the 40th Anniversary Gala concert of theSociety for the Promotion of New Music at the Barbican Hall London.Score (miniature). Duration c. 5mins.

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's  String Quartet No. 10 'New Ground' (2011). Set of parts: WH31462A Programme note: New Ground – No Ground – Green In 1986 I wrote Ground for the Kronos Quartet. I used the principle of the baroque ground and created a series of chords – going up and going down symmetrically. The material formed the basis for the quartet. In my next collaboration with Kronos I wrote the darker Last Ground – at the time supposed to be my last composition of the kind. After some years this seemed a bit pathetic and Idecided to write a new – lighter ground – New Ground. To disappoint my listeners as much as possible I based this piece on a very old and very well-known ground: Pachelbel’s Canon.  The piece is tonal and that suggested another –atonal – composition – No Ground (based on another string quartet – no. 7 Parted from 1984 first performed by Kronos). I am very fond of the elaborated constructivism of the medieval or early renaissance music so in my view the two new quartets needed to be connected and combined. The two quartets can be performed in combination with the four-part vocal piece Green. The text is from medieval England. The pieces are written for the Kronos Quartet and Theatre of Voices.

This is - so far - the earliest composition by Davies to be available for performance and mighty interesting it is. Written while he was still a young student it provides a candid glimpse of the thing that concerned him: how music could be both forward-moving in the classical Western sense (this is after all a piece for a wholly conventional medium) and repetitive in the manner of the Indian and medieval music in which he was interested. What results is a singular machine geared to an intermittent ostinato in the first violin.Duration c. 5mins.Set of parts. This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for furtherinformation.

Par SHARP TIM. This work grew out of the co-creator's love for the tunes and texts coming out of the Appalachian Mountains and the shape-note and early Moravian singing tradition. In the words of Tim Sharp, We took the image of bands of angels singing and playing at the Nativity as reported in the second chapter of Luke's gospel, transported that image to Appalachia, and Angel Band is the result. Containing 8 carols (mostly familiar), a processional and recessional, Angel Band is a fusion of ideas ranging from medieval tunes to contemporary bluegrass. / Date parution : 2021-12-09/ Répertoire / Choeur SATB

Par WATSON SCOTT. The 14th-century carol, 'Personent hodie,' is both mysterious and powerful. On This Day Earth Shall Ring---a festive processional on the ancient melody arranged by Scott Watson---explores both aspects. Beginning quietly, the modal tune emerges over a chant drone with rustic, medieval percussion. Before long, the piece takes on the joyous character alluded to in the tune's most familiar English text setting, 'On This Day Earth Shall Ring' (written by composer, Jane Joseph, a student of Gustav Holst). As the work draws to an ebullient close, all the stops are pulled with resounding brass and ringing metallic percussion! Whether used as a striking concert opener or a jubilant final selection, On This Day Earth Shall Ring will add festive élan to your winter/holiday program! (3:28) This title is available in SmartMusic. / Date parution : 2022-10-12/ Répertoire / Concert Band

Lully, Lullay was written at the request of Philip Reed, music director of the Bury St Edmunds Bach Choir, which gave the first performance on 17 December 2011 at Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford, Suffolk. Inspired by the familiar medieval text of the Coventry Carol , it is sung a cappella and invokes the sense of a lullaby through its metre and lilting melody. The fragility and bittersweet tonality of the opening verse is reflected in the continuous interaction between the tonic and dominant keys and resolving dissonances. This develops into broader passages of increased range and dynamics during the second and third verses, where the melody is passed between the upper and lower voices, clearly invoking the poignancy of the text. The last verse returns to the original theme with subtle harmonic changes and a reflective final cadence. An inspiring selection of new works from a range of contemporary composers, the Novello New Choral Series offers 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. Harriet Wybor was born in Leeds in 1986 and read music as an undergraduate at Durham University, followed by an M.A. in composition with Martyn Harry and António Pinho Vargas. Harriet's main compositional interests are sacred and secular contemporary choral and chamber music, and the relationship between music and time. Her work reflects a wide range of influences from renaissance choral music and medieval texts to 20th-century literature and art. Harriet has had works performed by the Northern Sinfonia (conducted by H K Gruber), Psappha, the Allegri String Quartet, St John's College Choir, Durham, the Bury St Edmunds Bach Choir and the Fishburn Band - broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Listen to the Band . After graduating from Durham University, Harriet continued her studies at the University of Edinburgh, where she read for an LL.M. in innovation, technology and the law. She has subsequently pursued a career in music publishing where she works in copyright and composes in her spare time. / Choeur SATB

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.