New Horizons

Cecilia McDowall's fresh and appealing style is amply displayed in this cycle, subtitled 'Three Shakespeare Songs' and first performed by the BBC Singers. In total, six Shakespeare texts are used, and...

These attractive settings of the ancient Latin Advent Antiphons will be of interest to any choir seeking imaginative material for Advent or Christmas performances. Within a largely diatonic style, Jac...

Setting part of a Eucharistic hymn text by Thomas Aquinas, this piece is suitable for liturgical or concert use. Flowing and expressive, it features homophonic sections, melismatic lines, and optional...

This celebratory anthem for double choir is set to the words of the Roman lyric poet Horace. Jackson combines declamatory unison passages for full choir with more lyrical polyphonic phrases shared bet...

This reflective and affirmatory communion motet features fluid shifts between 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures and expressive melodic lines that are often underpinned by a drone.

This serene communion motet sets the last two verses of the Pangue Lingua and oscillates between 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures. The melodic lines are expressive and at times melismatic, and the divisi i...

A setting of Shakespeare's much-loved Sonnet 18, Bednall's expressive work highlights this timeless text with sumptuous harmony, including pleasing tonal shifts and topical false relations. Various ch...

This setting of texts from Cymbeline and The Merchant of Venice, and Sonnet 98, is characterised by inventive textures and vibrant word-setting. The harmonic language is mostly diatonic but never plai...

The text for this piece is a response to Allen Ginsberg's A Supermarket in California by Latvian poet Karlis Verdins, translated by Ieva Lesinska. Jackson exploits its dramatic intent, giving space fo...

With a newly written text by Angier Brock, this compelling anthem by Cecilia McDowall is a welcome addition to the traditional Easter repertoire. Easter Light explores a variety of styles and colours,...

This anthem for unaccompanied choir juxtaposes the words of the Antiphon for the Washing of Feet on Maundy Thursday with 'The red rose whispers of passion' by the poet John Boyle O'Reilly. Jackson com...

This attractive motet was written for performance alongside Brahms's Requiem. The gracefully sculpted music clothes the text with touching melodies, expressive harmonies and varied sonorities.

The text for this part-song is a deftly chosen selection of lines from Keats' Ode to a Nightingale. Jackson's setting features many of his stylistic hallmarks: glissandi, melismas, aleatoric patterns,...

Like as the hart sets reflective yet fervent words from Psalm 42. The vocal writing is emotive and expressive, and the fluctuating metres perfectly complement the rhythm adopted by the psalmist when p...

Skempton's setting of the Preces and Responses is simple, well-crafted, and harmonically rewarding, and is perfect for choirs seeking new material for the liturgy.

Following Jackson's settings of the seven 'O' antiphons (Seven Advent Antiphons), this is a setting of the text recognised as the eighth 'O' antiphon and performed as such in many Christian traditions...

This anthem sets biblical words that explore love and kindness. The opening section creates a mood of hopefulness, and the central section is built around the words 'Be kind, tender-hearted, one to an...

An atmospheric setting of Caliban's dream from The Tempest, this piece transports the listener to a dream-like place. McDowall's immersive harmonies and ornamentation perfectly characterise the reveri...

Victimae paschali laudes is an atmospheric arrangement of the traditional plainsong melody for this Latin text for Easter Sunday. Changing metres enable an authentic presentation of the plainsong styl...

Lightly come or lightly go is a playful setting of James Joyce's poem of the same name for SATB double choir. The second choir carries the titular words as an arching ostinato, while choir one present...

This short sacred work for unaccompanied mixed choir is a highly atmospheric setting of the poet Henry Vaughan's mystical and enigmatic poem of the same name. Written for the choir of St Peter's Colle...

In this ethereal, atmospheric setting of Canadian poet Marjorie Pickthall's 'Stars', Oliver Tarney displays great sensitivity to the poem's vivid imagery and employs an evocative harmonic language tha...

This is an appealing setting of the popular Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem 'How do I love thee?'. Bearing all the hallmarks of Jackson's unique style, this piece is a welcome addition to the musical...

The star has come is an illustrative and imaginative setting of a poem by Robert Seatter. In response to the evocative text, Williams uses portamenti techniques to create musical imagery, and explores...

In this haunting arrangement of the well-known carol, Higgins creates a mystical soundscape by layering a single motif in a four-part soprano canon. These repetitions echo throughout and support the v...