Paul Carr

Song Within

In 2019, I attended a concert given in Bath, in which the opening work was Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne. Having never heard this work before, I was totally transfixed by the simplicity and extreme radiance of the first movement, 'Eternal Source of Light Divine'. During the second Coronavirus lockdown I entered a competition at Canterbury Cathedral for works based on an existing piece of music, and scored for choir and organ with a solo saxophone, and this was the result - but alas it didn't get selected, so I slightly revised and extended the piece a few months later.
As I was using Handel's music as a basis for something new, I asked my friend and librettist, Euan Tait, for a four-line stanza to mirror the passionate praise of Ambrose Phillips' original text, and then wove his words into a reimagining of Handel's exquisite music. Paul Carr

Song Within
Our longing cry of song within
will sound again, as love still sings,
for love remains as love has been:
a passing flock, then distant wings.
Euan Tait

Scored for SATB choir with organ plus solo soprano saxophone. A separate saxophone part is available.
Duration 7½ minutes