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…

Music played an enormous role in the works of William Shakespeare, while his own sonnets, poems and soliloquies have provided continuing inspiration for many composers through the years. The Novello Shakespeare Choral Collection, inspired by the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death in 2016, is an exciting anthology of choral works that are settings of Shakespeare's words. For choirs of all types …

The second sonata is on a much larger scale than the first and has three movements which develop in intensity reaching a climax in the last movement which is a passacaglia. It is a stormy work in the sense that it opens peacefully and closes in a similar manner with a heavy shower of notes and ideas in between.There is little hint of this in the gentle opening of the first movement and althou…

Noel! is an exciting collection for mixed voice choirs, selected and edited by David Hill. The contents range from the Renaissance to the present: the polyphony of Victoria and Byrd, via Bach, familiar settings of traditional and lesser known carols through the ages, and works by today's composers including Richard Rodney Bennett, Judith Bingham, John Tavener and Judith Weir. Mixed voice choirs of…