SKU: HL.14043066
6.75x9.75x0.05 inches.
O that we were there! is a text taken from the Christmas hymn In Dulci Jubilo . It expresses a longing to be present at the Incarnation of Christ, but it also conveys alonging to be out of the world of time and space, and in an eternal world. Composed in 2012, in memory of Blossom Barrow, this SATB version was first performed at the memorial service for Annabel Freyberg, mother of Blossom Barrow, at St Mary Abbots, the parish church of Kensington, on 26th February 2014. The performance was given by the choir of St Mary Abbotsconducted by the Director of Music, Professor Mark Uglow.
SKU: HL.48024961
UPC: 840126950366.
Composer's note: My approach to arranging this carol, as well as the other carols in Nordic Christmas, was to look at the text (originally in Danish by Nikolai Grundtvig, 1783-1872) and its background to see if there are new meanings hidden in the material. Perhaps there are circumstances around its creation or messages the original authors were trying to say that somehow get lost in the way they are interpreted today. Lovely is the dark blue sky is usually performed as a lustrous up-tempo carol, but thinking of Grundtvig's story and life, writing this text between episodes of severe mental illness, and his vision of a child looking at the dark blue sky at night, I made the atmosphere of this arrangement more dreamy, still and full of wonder. I still wanted to keep it childlike, with the choir singing tenderly and the soprano solo is ideally sung by a child. The melody was written 'by an old man who had never before composed any music', as stated in the 1853 hymnbook in which this melody first appeared. It is the only known composition of its writer, the Norwegian-Danish Jacob Gerhard Meidell (1778-1857), who was a captain in the Danish Army and later a customs inspector in Copenhagen. The text was written by one of the great Danish hymn writers, N F S Grundtvig in 1810. It was written between a manic and a depressive episode. During a time of being well, he wanted to write about Christmas through the eyes of a child. The message is simple, as a children's song with storybook elements.
SKU: HL.48024952
ISBN 9781784545987. UPC: 840126947243. 6.75x10.5 inches.
I was introduced to William Blake's poem The Lamb many years ago through John Tavener's famous setting and, when commissioned by York Minster to write a carol for their 2019 nine lessons and carols services, the idea of writing my own setting of this beautiful poem was hard to resist. For me, the biblical symbol of the lamb represents one of the most profound theological mysteries. That divine omnipotence as represented by the symbolic lamb speaks volumes of the humility and self-sacrificing nature of God; complexity illustrated in simplicity. The poet has seen within the vulnerability of the lamb, the profundity of God's self-sacrifice. I looked to convey the innocence of the lamb through the gentle opening of the piece with its simple melody and harmony. The harmonies gradually intensify as the questions of the text continue, and there is a stronger feel to the second verse as those questions begin to be answered and it is revealed that the Creator God is Himself the Lamb. A feeling of space should prevail, without the tempo dragging. The commas in bars 29, 33, 46, 51 and 52 imply there should be room to breathe, but not a whole quaver's worth of breath if possible.
