SKU: AP.48940

UPC: 038081562643. English. Words by Gerard McCann.

Alexandre Desplat delivers a lovely a cappella lullaby that may be programmed at any time of year. Simple and sincere, traditional choral writing leads singers through a warm progression of sonorities that allow room for expressive word stress. While plenty of soft singing is required, the ABA form grows to a glorious forte at the heart of the piece. This song can be heard in the background of a scene at Godric's Hollow in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

SKU: AP.49832

UPC: 038081571461. English. Traditional Spiritual.

Here's a beloved American spiritual, sensitively prepared for school and church singers by Victor C. Johnson. The familiar strophic melody is fully arranged with progressively richer sonorities throughout. Expressive tempo markings stretch the final moment of every phrase and suggest more motion for the hear the trumpet sound verse. A lovely piano accompaniment does not double, but rather decorates the satisfying choral parts. A gentle gem that grows to an impressive height before a quiet conclusion.

SKU: BT.MUSM570200641

English.

Jesus Reassures His Mother is a setting of medieval lyric poetry written anonymously in the 14th century. The poet recounts a vision of the young Mary rocking the infant Christ to sleep. The child requests his mother to sing a lullaby but, alas, knowing her child’s fate she is too sad to sing. Jesus tells her that all mothers worry about their children’s futures and insists that she should sing nevertheless. Mary recounts the visit of Gabriel and the events of Christ’s birth but reflects how sad it is to have delivered a child to such a fate. Jesus reassures his mother that he will be with his father in heaven where Mary will come to join Him at the end of time, there to livein eternal bliss. At this point Mary is persuaded by and echoes her child’s reassuring words, and she is joined in this by the choir (now representing us all). The vision fades away in the voice of the narrator whose loneliness and longing return. We learn that it is Christmas Day. This setting grows from the visionary mystical world inhabited by Julian of Norwich whose Revelations of Divine Love provided the inspiration for a work Anne Boyd composed in 1994. The medium has been expanded from the Song Company’s six solo voices used in the Revelations to the double motet choir of the Sydney Philharmonia who commissioned this work for their 75th anniversary. The parts of the infant Jesus, Mary, the Narrator and the angel Gabriel are taken by choir soloists: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. The work is situated in the context of Boyd ’s personal musical aesthetic which she describes as the intersection of Christian Love with Buddhist silence.

SKU: PL.9641

This beloved text has been given a fresh setting by Randall Giles. It is set in a hymn-like manner, with each verse growing in excitement. The final Let All the World adds a soprano descant and a rich organ harmonization to conclude the work in a blaze of glory. This setting would be appropriate as a hymn for congregation as well as an anthem for choir. Its straightforward style makes it accessible to choirs of all abilities.

Gile's setting of George Herbert's Antiphon: Let all the World in every corner Sing begins very simply, with clear, common-practice block chords; there is even a small homage to Ralph Vaughn William's setting in the Five Mystical Songs: My God and King is set in hemiolae. What looks deceptively simple on paper is, in fact, a very sophisticated piece. The spacing and voicing of the simple chords are perfectly calculated to ring, and the organ grows so imperceptibly in intensity and complexity that the piece reaches its grand conclusion seamlessly. - AAM Journal.