Morton Gould's Walkin'On Air from 'Quotations' for Double Chorus of Mixed Voices and Wind Orchestra. Piano reduction.This work was commissioned by L. Anthony Fisher for the New York Choral Society Robert DeComier conductor and first performed by them on January 28 1983 at Carnegie Hall.The composer after thinking over the possible approaches to a choral work found the ide of platitudes common sayings and poetic referenmces challanging and stimulating. As 'Quotations' evolved he found that these sayings evoked nostalgic momories of his own childhood in Richmond Hill New York where he was reared on such aphorisms as 'theearly bird catches the worm ' 'a stitch in time saves nine ' 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'After setting the scene in Richmond Hill the piece begins with Hallelujah Amen the common shout for joy and closing whisper of all religions. An antiphonal series of platitudes follows and then moves to more complex secular litanies the 'ballads ' or stories of young love and old age and the precariousness of life which have been told and retold through the ages. In the last movement the religious litany resumes with 'ashes to ashes dust to dust' echoing the earlier prosaic motif 'here today gone tomorrow ' or as Gould finally writes 'time's up!'

Carl Rütti's choral music is 'sensuous and exuberant by turns combining dazzling rhythms and soaring melodies with distinctively lush harmonies' (Choir and Organ Magazine). Of his Requiem immense in scale yet often intimate in tone the composer writes that 'no words are strong enough to express the feelings of the bereaved nor sufficient to explain what will await us after death. Music may be the most appropriate language.' Scored for Soprano Baritone Double Choir Strings Harp and Organ Rutti's Requiem ultimately affirms life's precious fragility.

The Novello Book Of British Folksongs For Mixed-Voice Choirs is an enjoyable collection of diverse tunes that have descended from the folksongs across the British Isles. A variety of arrangements are included both old and new of well-loved tunes as well as some lesser-known pieces. All 34 tunes are arranged for SATB Chorus some with Piano accompaniment making this a brilliant way to enhance your choir's repertoire. This Book Of British Folksongs offers a grand selection of favourite folk tunes arranged by composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams Gustav Holst Paul Mealor and George Dyson.Tunes like A-Hunting We Will Go Auld Lang Syne Bonny At Morn Come Lasses And Lads and Scarborough Fair suggest the sheer diversity on offer here. From sad tunes to happy songs the arrangements here are at once beautiful and touching coming truly to life when sung by a Mixed-Voice Choir.  These thirty four folk songs will enrich a performance programme whether as one part or the entirety. Choirs of all types and abilities will be able to discover their favourite arrangements either the most beautiful the funniest or the most enjoyable to sing. With the country experiencing a revival in singing traditional folksongs this collection is a great way to experience the unabashed joy that performing these British tunes can bring. With a great number of favourite tunes as well as some lesser-known songs this collection includes songs like There Were Three Ravens Yarmouth Town My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose Dance To Your Daddy and The Rio Grande as well as an extensive and fascinating introduction by Jeremy Summerly. The wonderful thing about singing folksongs is they are like a window into our country's history. They are occasionally funny often dramatic but always enjoyable to sing and their diversity

Full Score- Tarik O'Regan's Mass Observation was commissioned for the University of Michigan Chamber Choir Jerry Blackstone conductor thanks to support from the William K. and Delores S. Brehm Choral Commissioning Fund and the Barbara Abramoff Levy Fund.   Composer's note:   Mass Observation is a meditation on the histories of our varied ambivalent relationships with surveillance in its myriad guises. The use of technologies that sate our desires to be watchedand heard (safety tracking empowerment and pride) has in some sense always been able to be weighed against our anxieties around invasions of privacy (physical and psychological harm hacking subjugation and embarrassment). The work takes its title from the British social research organisation Mass-Observation which aimed to record everyday life in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1937 Mass-Observation controversially paid investigators to anonymously record people's conversation and behaviour at work on the street and at various public occasions including public meetings sporting and religious events. Scored for chorus and percussion sextet  Mass Observation ebbs and flows between various polarities (human voices and percussion instruments pitched and unpitched sounds clear and opaque tonalities) over the course of its thirteen movements. There is a ritualistic nature to the overall pacing of the work reminiscent of a liturgical mass setting. The two groups of musicians are rarely aligned: for much of the piece they watch and listen to one another in silence.    Duration approximately: 40 Minutes  

Musikalisches Monodram-Lélio (The Return to Life) Hol.55: A Lyric Monodrama Lélio was composed during Berlioz's stay in Italy in 1831. He conceived the idea of a semi-theatrical work that combined music and monologues to express the idea of returning to life after a profound traumatic experience. Originally entitled Le Retour a la Vie' it consists of six separate compositions interspersed with dramatic monologues. The monologues are to be recited by an actor in front of a curtain which conceals the Orchestra and they reflect Berlioz's most passionate concerns in 1831 especially friendship love Shakespeare and thehealing power of music. 'The work is to be played immediately after the 'Symphonie fantastique' to which it forms the conclusion and the complement. The orchestra chorus and soloists should be out of sight on the stage behind the curtain. The actor speaks and acts by himself on the forestage. After the last monologue he exits and the curtain rises to reveal all the performers for the finale thus a platform must be built over the orchestral pit. The part of Lélio demands a skilful non-singing actor. In addition a Tenor is required for the Ballad another Tenor for the Song of Bliss and a strong Baritone for the brigand-chief' - Hector Berlioz Urtext of the New Berlioz Edition Full score (BA5447) and vocal score (BA5447-90) on sale Performance material available (BA5447-72) available for hire

The House of Christmas comes from a set of three carols settings of poems by G.K. Chesterton. Duration: 3mins 40s. Composer's Note: G.K.C. was a great traveller and on his wanderings a friend to everyone he met. In his own house he was famed for his warmth and hospitality. It is not surprising then that The Inn was for him almost a spiritual symbol. In all of my settings of his poems I have tried to convey the sense of a yearning journey of life coupled with the joy of finding something thought lost forever: we travel to a place that if we are truthful wenever really left. The idea at the centre of The House of Christmas that I dramatise is Chesterton's: that joy is a 'gigantic secret' which resides at the end of all our travelling.

Vincent Novello was a British composer and Organist who gave the Novello publishing company its first embryonic form. Here he arranges Rule Britannia! for Voice SATB with Piano accompaniment to introduce some contrapuntal interest in the verse.When 18th century British composer Thomas Arne included his song Rule Britannia! in a masque based on the life of Alfred the Great that was presented at Cliveden the country home of Frederick Prince of Wales he could not have imagined that more than two hundred seventy years later his ditty would be known throughout the British Isles and beyond. Rule Britannia! is widely used in the Royal Navy and British Army and is featuredeach year at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall as a national sing-along.At the time of writing the Dutch actually ‘ruled the waves ’ so this song was more an exhortation than a status report. The lyrics were also a statement of civil liberty. Since Cromwell’s time Britain had had a standing army which could be turned against the native population. A standing navy however existed solely to protect the nation from invaders protecting a free populace.

Heilig-Messe-Bernard of Offida 1604 1694 was a Capuchin monk whose saintly life and devotion to the sick and poor caused him to be beatified by Pope Pius VI on 19 May 1795. St. Bernard?s name day falls on the 11th of September (a Saturday in 1797) and it is generally thought that Haydn combined doing honour to the Capuchin monk with the production of a new Mass for his patron the day thereafter.Apparently later performances in Eisenstadt added horns to double the trumpets in the tuttis and just as in the previous Mass the clarinet parts were enlarged; it is almost certain that the new clarinet parts are either by Haydn or (shall we say) ?supervised? by him. As inthe Mass in Time of War conductors have the choice of two orchestrations: with or without doubling horns and with or without the supplementary clarinet parts.The Heiligmesse has always been one of Haydn?s most admired works. Its dignity its strength (we draw special attention to the extraordinary ?Gratias? with its brilliant contrapuntal writing) the subdued orchestral grandeur to which the B-flat trumpets contribute a silvery but unmartial weight all these have made it one of Haydn?s most serious and most deeply sensitive church works: its constant popularity in Viennese churches is quite deserved.Urtext from Joseph Haydn WerkeFull score (together with Missa Cellensis [Mariazellermesse] Hob.XXII:8; Missa brevis Sti Joannis de Deo [Little Organ Mass] Hob.XXII:7; Missa in Tempore Belli [Mass in Time of War] Hob.XXII:9) available for saleParts (BA4651) and vocal score (BA4651-90) available for sale

Heilig-Messe-Bernard of Offida 1604 1694 was a Capuchin monk whose saintly life and devotion to the sick and poor caused him to be beatified by Pope Pius VI on 19 May 1795. St. Bernard?s name day falls on the 11th of September (a Saturday in 1797) and it is generally thought that Haydn combined doing honour to the Capuchin monk with the production of a new Mass for his patron the day thereafter.Apparently later performances in Eisenstadt added horns to double the trumpets in the tuttis and just as in the previous Mass the clarinet parts were enlarged; it is almost certain that the new clarinet parts are either by Haydn or (shall we say) ?supervised? by him. As inthe Mass in Time of War conductors have the choice of two orchestrations: with or without doubling horns and with or without the supplementary clarinet parts.The Heiligmesse has always been one of Haydn?s most admired works. Its dignity its strength (we draw special attention to the extraordinary ?Gratias? with its brilliant contrapuntal writing) the subdued orchestral grandeur to which the B-flat trumpets contribute a silvery but unmartial weight all these have made it one of Haydn?s most serious and most deeply sensitive church works: its constant popularity in Viennese churches is quite deserved.Urtext from Joseph Haydn WerkeFull score (together with Missa Cellensis [Mariazellermesse] Hob.XXII:8; Missa brevis Sti Joannis de Deo [Little Organ Mass] Hob.XXII:7; Missa in Tempore Belli [Mass in Time of War] Hob.XXII:9) available for saleParts (BA4651) and vocal score (BA4651-90) available for sale

Sam Pegg's A Child Of The Snows for SATB choir and Piano accompaniment is a setting of a poem by G. K. Chesterton. Chesterton was known as an avid traveller and was a friend to all he met on his wanderings. In his own house he was famed for his warmth and hospitality. For him the inn was almost a spiritual symbol. 'In all of my settings of his poems I have tried to convey the sense of a yearning journey of life coupled with the joy of finding something thought lost forever: we travel to a place that if we are truthful we never really left. In A Child of the Snows I have tried to suggest the wandering wondering journey to the next staging post 'the Inn at the end of the world'. - Sam Pegg There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim And never before or again When the nights are strong with a darkness long And the dark is alive with rain. Never we know but in sleet and in snow The place where the great fires are That the midst of the earth is a raging mirthAnd the heart of the earth a star. And at night we win to the ancient innWhere the child in the frost is furled We follow the feet where all souls meetAt the inn at the end of the world. The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red For the flame of the sun is flown The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold And a Child comes forth alone.

Job (Vocal Score)-A substantial work for four soli SATB chorus and orchestra using text from the translation of Stephen Mitchell's The Book Of Job. Like Vaughan Williams in his Job: A Masque for Dancing Davies was inspired inpart by William Blake's 21 engravings for the Book of Job. His oratorio however is less dependent on find parallels for Blake's visual details given the direct poetry in David Lemon's adaptation of the Stephen Mitchelltranslation from the biblical original it is hardly surprising that the spotlight should be so much on Job's suffering litany. The baritone has the lion's share of the setting though the other soloists occasionally reinforce hisplea and chorale-like episodes universalize his predicament. Davies frames with work with two seminal plainsong-like passages; there is also plenty of dramatic contrast both within Job's monologues and in the vivid orchestralwriting for the smarmy Comforters the initially shrill God who finally appears out of a dazzling orchestral whirlwind and the animal life he uses to illustrate the wonders of creation to a humbled Job.Commissioned by theUniversity of British Colombia it was first performed in May 1997 by Valdine Anderson (soprano) Linda Maguire (mezzo soprano) Paul Moore (tenor) and Kevin McMillan (baritone) with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the CBC VancouverOrchestra conducted by the composer.Vocal score with piano reduction of the orchestral score. Duration c. 70mins.

Arranged for SATB chorus and Piano accompaniment. Commissioned by Gareth Malone for Series Four of BBC TV's 'The Choir' and first performed by Malone and the Military Wives' choir as part of The Royal British Legion's Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on 12th November 2011 in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen. A favourite for the 2011 Christmas Number One, with support from radio DJ Chris Evans who has suggested every choir in the country should sing this song, it's and nbsp - the biggest threat to X-Factor chart domination this year. The text is taken from poems, letters and prayers written by the Military Wives, selected and adapted by Paul Mealor, and a passage from the Book of John: Wherever you are, my love will keep you safe - My heart will build a bridge of light, across both time and space. Wherever you are, our hearts still beat as one, I hold you in my dreams each night, until your task is done. Light up the darkness, my wondrous star, Our hopes and dreams, my heart and yours, forever shining far. Light up the darkness, my prince of peace - May the stars shine all around you, may your courage never cease. Wherever I am, I will love you day by day, I will keep you safe, cling on to faith, along the dark, dark way. Wherever I am, I will hold on through the night - I will pray each day, a safe return, will look now to the light. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 / SATB Et Piano

Craig Hella Johnson Choral Series-Craig Hella Johnson's remarkable setting of verses by the poet Rabindranath Tagore creates a mesmerizing effect with music that is both ancient and modern. 'Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs.'Duration: ca. 4:30.

Arranged for SATB chorus and Piano accompaniment.Commissioned by Gareth Malone for Series Four of BBC TV's 'The Choir' and first performed by Malone and the Military Wives' choir as part of The Royal British Legion's Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on 12th November 2011 in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen.A favourite for the 2011 Christmas Number One with support from radio DJ Chris Evans who has suggested every choir in the country should sing this song it's the biggest threat to X-Factor chart domination this year.The text is taken from poems letters and prayers written by the Military Wives selected and adapted by PaulMealor and a passage from the Book of John:Wherever you are my love will keep you safe;My heart will build a bridge of light across both time and space.Wherever you are our hearts still beat as one I hold you in my dreams each night until your task is done.Light up the darkness my wondrous star Our hopes and dreams my heart and yours forever shining far.Light up the darkness my prince of peace;May the stars shine all around you may your courage never cease.Wherever I am I will love you day by day I will keep you safe cling on to faith along the dark dark way.Wherever I am I will hold on through the night;I will pray each day a safe return will look now to the light.Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.John 15:13