Description Music for Royal Occasions is an exciting volume of pieces written for coronations and other royal celebrations over the past five centuries. It includes long-standing favourites, such as Handel's Zadok the priest and Parry's I was glad ; and works from earlier years, such an Henry Purcell's I was glad and the delightful Rejoice in the Lord alway . Many well-loved composers …

Par MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY FELIX. Mendelssohn’s St. Paul with just seven instead of the usual 18 wind instruments? Thanks to this arrangement for chamber orchestra, a performance with smaller forces is now possible, and presents an attractive alternative for performing Mendelssohn’s first oratorio – not only in times of Corona. For it is often considerations of space, a limited budget, or the size …

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 m…

Nico Muhly's Magnificat and Nunc dimittis was written for the choirs of Clare College and Girton College, Cambridge.This work was first performed in a provisional version in 2004 by the choir of Girton College, conducted by Judith Clurman. The final version was first performed by the choir of Clare College, conducted by Tim Brown, on 16 February 2005 as part of the BBC Radio 3 evensong broadcast. …

Par FAURE GABRIEL. Being a significant contributor to French romantic music, Faure 's Tantum Ergo, Op. 65, No. 2, is essential to all female choirs. Containing a variety of characteristics, this work contains many aspects of the romantic era. Known predominantly for his contributions to vocal repertoire, Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) is often regarded as the master of the French art song, frequently c…

Par BEDNALL DAVID. Composed for Matthew Redman and Colston's Girls' School Chamber Choir, this is a gentle and expressive setting of Salvator Mundi, ideal for upper-voice church choirs and cathedral choirs. The text is particularly associated with lent and its implorations for mercy lend it a solemn and penitential atmosphere. The dark key of Bb minor reflects this mood, and the long-drawn, expres…

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 successio…

Paul Mealor's setting of the Latin hymn, Ubi Caritas , was composed for the Marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, K.G. to Miss Catherine Middleton and first performed by the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, conducted by James O'Donnell, at the wedding service at Westminster Abbey on Friday, 29th April 2011. For SATB choir (with divisi…

Par HAHN. Having been considered as a 'fashionable' and 'cliche' composer of his day, Hahn 's compositions are possibly not as well-known as they ought to be. Rondels for SATB choir and Piano however, shatter these prejudices held, representing the engaging diversity of the composer's music. Venezuelan born Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947) entered the Paris Conservatoire at 10 years old. He received a hi…

Following the publication of Francis Jackson's organ reduction of Finzi's Requiem da Camera in 2014, Robert Gower, chairman of the Finzi Trust, recitalist and organist of Nottingham Cathedral, has created reductions of the full orchestra accompaniments to two more of Finzi's choral works. These reductions broaden the reach of these works to choirs which do not wish to present the works with orches…