Above All - SATB

The Ecstasies Above commissioned from the Robert Baker Commissioning Fund for Sacred Music by Yale Institute of Sacred Music was premiered by Yale Schola Cantorum under the direction of Simon Carrington on 4th March 2007 in Woolsey Hall Yale University.

This short setting of Rorate Coeli a text associated with the Matins service at Advent was written in 1983 and first performed by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge as part of the Advent Carol Service held every year in Trinity College Chapel. Arranged for mixed voice choir SATB. Duration 2 minutes.

Schubert’s masterful Litanei a strophic artsong that marks the Feast of All Souls while somehow communicating both loss and comfort appears to be relatively simple. But the long melodic lines never rising above mezzoPiano make real demands on focus and breath as well as on the performers’ artistic expression.This arrangement for Voices SATB with Piano or Organ is sensitively done.

A second set of innovative jazz arrangements of three carols originally created for a service of Jazz Carols at St Martin in the Fields London by Will Todd. Rich harmonies serve to bring new expression to familiar Christmas material written for SATB Voices and Piano with scope for optional congregational/audience singing. They can be performed using the supplied Piano part or embellished using the chord symbols above. Double bass may also be used in addition to Piano again following the supplied chord symbols. We three kings is also available in an arrangement for mixed voices and jazz ensemble (jazz trio and optional brass quintet) compatible with this vocal score.

(Novello New Choral Series)-There is no rose of such virtue is an anonymous mediaeval text already well known through beautiful settings by Britten (in his Ceremony of Carols) John Joubert and others. The poem is ‘macaronic’ (it presents a verse in English followed by a varying Latin refrain). This new version follows the illustrious examples above by remaining strophic and presenting broadly the same music in a succession of slightly different guises. The first verse is a straightforward four-part setting the second gives the melody to the tenors and surrounds them with hushed wordless writing for the other parts and the third explores a freely canonic relationshipbetween the tenor and soprano lines before carrying the previous verse-endings to a higher more exalted pitch and mood. The fourth verse then expands its texture in a free climactic passage evoking the songs of praise sung by the angels. This subsides towards the final verse where the texture of the music attenuates again to four parts and canonic writing (based on the first four notes of the original melody) permeates all of them. This slightly extended statement leads to a hushed final cadence.Francis Pott (b. 1957) began musical life as a chorister at New College Oxford. He held open music scholarships at Winchester College and at Magdalene College Cambridge where he studied composition with Robin Holloway and Hugh Wood while pursuing piano studies privately in London with the distinguished British artist Hamish Milne. Throughout the 1990s Francis was John Bennett Lecturer in Music at St Hilda’s College Oxford and a lay clerk in the Choir of Winchester Cathedral. In 2001 he became Head of London College of Music University of West London later leading research across the University’s Faculty of Arts and acceding in 2007 to its first Chair in Composition. Francis Pott has become recognised particularly for his sacred choral and organ music. This has been performed in concert and on radio in

Arranged for SSSAAATTTBBB the lyrics are from an anonymous writer of the fourteenth century and have been adapted by the composer.The composer says: 'Woefully arrayed is a supreme choral setting by William Cornysh Junior who died in 1523 of a text usually regarded as of anonymous composition though there have been some attributions to John Skelton. It is a thoughtful powerful meditation on Christ on the Cross and though Cornysh’s setting has remarkable intensity and contrapuntal artistry I felt a strong wish to add my own response to this fine text. The different versions of it have different verses that used by Cornysh has three verses (plus therefrain) while there are others with four or even five (one attributed to Skelton has five). I have chosen to restrict myself to the three used by Cornysh using my own adaptation of the modernised words which yet incorporates some archaisms a deliberate choice for reasons of rhythm and verbal sound. This setting was commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival 2009 for Stile Antico to whom it is dedicated.''Difficult to perform but not difficult to listen to this 2009 Three Choirs Festival commission was first performed by Stile Antico who have since toured it. It is a heartfelt response to the fourteenth-century text passionate and anguished Christ is on the cross ‘woefully arrayed’. Although written for a secular choir it is a piece that could be sung by many cathedral and collegiate choirs: there is considerable doubling between the sixteen lines and a keyboard reduction to help the initial sorting out. Above all it is dramatic and would communicate directly to audiences if given a chance to hear it.'       - James L Montgomer RSCM review

Michael Flanders and Joseph Horovitz. This popular work for unison or two-part voices and piano with optional bass and drums opens with a splendid storm above which God can be heard muttering about the irritations he finds with mankind. Following the Old Testament story God then instructs Noah how to build the ark and select animals. In a profusion of fine solos and lively choruses we learn about the difficulty of living under hatches and the eventual drying-out of the world. Suggestions for vocal solos given in the score. Ideas for semi-dramatic effects or stagings suggest themselves. String bass and drum parts on hire.

Noël! 3 is an exciting collection of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany music for mixed-voice choirs, from the easy to learn to the more challenging and unconventional. The contents range from the Baroque to the present: familiar settings of traditional and lesser-known carols through the ages to Howells, Berkeley and Warlock, and works by today's composers including Richard Rodney Bennett, Paul Mealor, John Tavener, Francis Pott and Richard Allain. Mixed-voice choirs of all levels will enjoy these new arrangements of favourite carols as well as stimulating original works for the Christmas season. / Choeur SATB Et Orgue (Ou Piano)