In Paradisum : Text from the Roman Catholic Burial Service

In Paradisum sets a prayer from the Roman Catholic Burial Service, often used as a movement in settings of the Requiem Mass. The opening emerges from silence and builds in texture until all eight parts are present. There follows a gentle two-part melody accompanied by humming lower parts (‘In paradisum’), followed by a majestic, largely homophonic section (‘Chorus angelorum’), and a closing section wich echoes the opening. The gentle dissonances but approachable part-writing make for an enjoyable four-minute work for intermediate choirs comfortable singing in eight parts.

The Short Service

Magnificat & Nunc dimittis : The Blues Service

New settings of the two evening canticles which incorporate jazz elements, including harmony in voice parts and organ and many ‘blue’ notes. Despite these jazz elements, the music is very approachable, with natural syncopation and mostly homophonic writing. It is also available for mixed choir (ISMN 979-0-060-13011-3). Either version would be enjoyable and rewarding additions to a church choir’s modern liturgical repertoire, or indeed concert repertoire of all choirs.

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis : The Blues Service

New settings of the two evening canticles which incorporate jazz elements, including harmony in voice parts and organ and many ‘blue’ notes. Despite these jazz elements, the music is very approachable, with natural syncopation and mostly homophonic writing. It is also available for upper or lower unison voices, with occasional optional divisi (ISMN 979-0-060-13012-0). Either version would be enjoyable and rewarding additions to a church choir’s modern liturgical repertoire, or indeed concert repertoire of all choirs.

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

A highly effective and poignant setting of the famous memorial text. It is completely homophonic with sumptuous harmonies, and perfect for a very special service or memorial occasion.

That Lives In Us : From Living The Devine

Offering guidance through stages of spiritual awakening from respect for and service to all, Daniel Brewbaker captures the inspiration of the Rumi text in “ecstatic” and energetic music for women's choir.

A Boy Was Born

A new carol from composer Will Todd, written for a service of Jazz Carols at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. Full of jazz inflections, this restrained and reflective piece will be a valuable addition to the Christmas choral repertoire.

America the beautiful

This moving arrangement was performed by the Children's Chorus of Maryland at the National Tribute Memorial Service for Fallen Firefighters in October 2002, honoring over 400 men and women who perished in 2001 while performing acts of bravery and heroism.

Indian Summer

This setting of an Emily Dickinson text explores the bittersweet quality of those few summer-like days in what should be fall, comparing them to the bread and wine of the communion service. The music explores the full palette of choral expression, with dramatic contrasts in dynamic range and vocal textures.

Three Jazz Carols

Innovative jazz arrangements of Silent night, Once in royal David’s city and Away in a manger 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 which is written for SATB voices and piano, with scope for optional congregational singing.

Peaceful The Wondrous Night

Commissioned by the CBC and the choir of the church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal, Ruth has set the evocative Christmas text of Eliza Hewitt. The text is both majestic and intimate and the music conveys these contrasting moods perfectly. This will be a wonderful invitation to a Christmas Eve service or other seasonal performance.

Christmas Carol : from Christmas Sequence, op. 95

This carol was commissioned in 2002 by King’s College, Cambridge for their famous service of Nine Lessons and Carols. It tells the start of the familiar Christmas story: Gabriel's Annunciation; praise to the Virgin beforeshe too sings 'my soul doth magnify the Lord'; the shepherds a-watching their flocks by night; the angelic chorus in the sky; the fusion of celestial and earthy around the crib holding the baby who is also 'Lord of Time &Space'.   The text is from a variety of sources: anonymous carols of the 15th,16th & 17th centuries, Edmund Bolton (1611, 'Sweet music, sweeter far...'), the Gloria from the Mass, and a couple of linesfromwell-loved Anglican hymns.   Selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s ‘Encore’ project, this carol will offer some challenge to intermediate choirs, but will add some originality to acarol service or Christmas concert.

A Golden Tree : A Christmas Carol

This carol was commissioned by the John Lewis Partnership Music Society and first performed at their annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at Westminster Cathedral in December 2014, conducted by Manvinder Rattan. Amelancholic mood pervades throughout the setting, which is melodically rich, with subtle chromatic alterations colouring Paul Williamsons beautifully poetic text that evokes the genealogy of Christ, springing like a tree from theroot of Jesse, King Davids father. Long, legato lines are an integral part of this carol, emphasising the peaks and troughs of harmonic change and the dynamics

Lullay, lullay, thou lytil child

This short carol, a setting of an anonymous 15th-century text, was commissioned for a service given in Cambridge in 2012 by the Fairhaven Singers, conducted by Ralph Woodward. A witness account of The Nativity, it opens with a solo soprano (‘This other night I saw a sight, A mayd a cradle keep:’) before unfolding as a dialogue between Christ and the Virgin Mary, represented by the alternation of the full choir and a group of four soloists (SATB). The soloists may either be placed within the body of the main choir or be grouped together some distance away.

How Do I Love Thee?

This anthem was composed for the service of thanksgiving for a Civil Partnership in June 2011. In looking for a suitable text the composer turned to Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61), one of whose sonnets he had usedfor another wedding anthem (Love is beautiful indeed) a few years earlier. As the title suggests, this highly expressive text puts into words the intense feeling of love and the mostly homophonic music reflects that throughluscious harmonies and beautifully shaped phrases. Suitable for intermediate choirs, this setting of a popular wedding text is a joy for both performers and audience.

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day : Chritsmas Carol

Devised as a choral Christmas waltz, this carol for unaccompanied mixed voices (no divisi) by Welsh composer Gareth Treseder is a jolly setting of a traditional text. The work is structured in the manner of a hymn that becomesincreasingly complex via different vocal textures. The catchy melody is passed around each part of the choir and interweaving textures should offer a welcome contrast to the common homophonic textures of Christmas music.A sure audience-pleaser, this carol will also be very rewarding for the singers and will add a jovial twist to a Christmas concert of service.

Three More Jazz Carols

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.

Let all the world in every corner sing

Let all the world in every corner sing was commissioned by Colston’s Girls’ School in Bristol for the Chamber Choir and their Director of Music Matthew Redman, and was written in August 2008 for the service to mark the school’s acquisition of Academy status. It is a tour-de-force for upper voices – the organ introduction leads to a tapestry of rich variety, climaxing with the choir splitting into four parts for the antiphonal cries against the full organ. The music is highly rhythmic throughout, its time changes dictated by the rhythm and stress of the text. An exciting addition to the intermediate upper voice choir repertoire.

The Holy Spirit

Commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Guildford to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral, The Holy Spirit sets a text by the poet and novelist Evelyn Underhill with masterful word-painting.Although there is some organ accompaniment, most of the work is a cappella with varying moods and textures to reflect the highly descriptive text. Contrasting with the gentle opening and ending, the work’s climax dramaticallycalls for the Holy Spirit to ‘show Thy power’, and the full organ chord and fanfare-like response from the choir will stun an audience or congregation. An exciting addition to a choirs service or concert repertoire.

Two Extra Jazz Carols

Following Three jazz carols and Three more jazz carols is a pair of further innovative jazz arrangements of carols originally created in 2012 for a service of Jazz Carols at St Martin in the Fields, London by Will Todd. Todd’siconic rich harmonies and toe-tapping rhythm serve to bring new expression to familiar Christmas material, which is written for SATB voices and piano, with scope for optional congregational singing. They can be performed using thesupplied piano part or embellished using the supplied chord symbols. Double bass may also be used in addition to piano, again following the supplied chord symbols, and parts for optional jazz ensemble (brass quintet and jazztrio)accompaniment are available for download.

Padre Pio's Prayer

The setting of Padre Pio's Prayer is after Communion. It was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and first performed by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, in June 2008 at Westminster Cathedral, London, and recorded under the CORO label. Padre Pio (1887-1968), in his lifetime a controversial and holy man, was canonised St. Pius of Pietrelcina in 2002. He is known unofficially as 'the patron saint of stress relief', in accord with his most famous dictum, 'Pray, hope and don't worry.' A powerful setting by James MacMillan of his own English version of Pio's original Italian text, the work is suitable for both service and concert use. For intermediate to advancedstandard performers.

Requiem da Camera

New edition with completion by Christian Alexander of the young composer’s first extended work; only the instrumental prelude was performed during Finzi’s lifetime. The other three movements are settings of poems by John Masefield, Thomas Hardy and Wilfrid Wilson Gibson.Scored for baritone solo, small chorus (or SATB soli) and chamber orchestra, the wellspring of the Requiem’s composition was the death, during active service in 1918, of Finzi’s composition teacher, Ernest Farrar. The work may also be viewed as a metaphor – the permanence of the land, and a centuries-old pattern of rural life following the rhythm of the turning seasons, contrasted with the violent havocand destructive dislocation wrought by war. A reflective and poignant work particularly suitable for performances commemorating the tragedy of World War I.

Requiem da Camera

New edition with completion by Christian Alexander of the young composer’s first extended work; only the instrumental prelude was performed during Finzi’s lifetime. The other three movements are settings of poems by John Masefield, Thomas Hardy and Wilfrid Wilson Gibson.Scored for baritone solo, small chorus (or SATB soli) and chamber orchestra, the wellspring of the Requiem’s composition was the death, during active service in 1918, of Finzi’s composition teacher, Ernest Farrar. The work may also be viewed as a metaphor – the permanence of the land, and a centuries-old pattern of rural life following the rhythm of the turning seasons, contrasted with the violent havocand destructive dislocation wrought by war. A reflective and poignant work particularly suitable for performances commemorating the tragedy of World War I.

In This Place

Commissioned by Roger Muttitt for the 600th anniversary of Durham School in 2014, In this place is a setting of the composer’s own words and was first performed at a service of celebration in Durham Cathedral in June 2014. The text is a poem of renewal, with hints of spirituality, though without being explicitly sacred in content. Sumptuous harmonies dominate the music, with occasional divisi adding depth, especially in the bass section. With a mostly homophonic texture, the setting builds towards the thrilling final phrase ‘I will fly with angels’ with a sense of transformation. The close harmonies add an element of challenge, though well thought through voice-leading and somerepetition make the work accessible to intermediate choirs. A beautiful addition to the choral repertoire, In this place is both a joy to sing and a delight for the listener.

Glory be to God for dappled things : Pied Beauty

This setting of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem Pied Beauty was commissioned by the Rev Jim Bates, Vicar of Kingston, for the service in Kingston Parish Church celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The firstperformance was given by the combined choirs of the Kingston Parish Church and Twickenham Choral Society on the 2nd June 2002. A good proportion of the text is reflective or descriptive – it winds through a number ofexamples of dappled things with suitably celebratory music: ‘skies of couple-colour’, ‘rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim’, ‘fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls’ and so on winding down toacentrally peaceful section in which Hopkins writes of ‘all things counter, original, spare, strange’ before returning to the celebratory mood. This grand anthem would be suitable for intermediate to advanced choirs toperform, particularly at festival services and important church occasions.