SKU: HL.48025378

UPC: 196288194392.

Commissioned by the Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge, for the first ever BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcast from the college,this introit or short motet was written to commemorate the occasion of Candlemas. Echoing the text, rich in light imagery, the recurring motif, first heard at the opening of the piece, unfolds from a single pitch into glowing harmonic colours. After a luminous climax where the texture reaches its widest span, with a soaring soprano solo, the piece ends by returning cyclically to the meditative state of the opening, fading to a single note once more. As a versatile introit or as a concert piece, this gentle and reflective setting of the archaic text would suit confident choral groups.

SKU: HL.48025164

ISBN 9781784548025. UPC: 196288104933. 0.035 inches.

Each year the BBC Music Magazine commissions a brand-new Christmas Carol for their readers and, when Grace-Evangeline Mason was invited to compose the 2021 carol, she decided to write and set her own poem titled A Winter Carol. The words, which depict snowy scenery and starry allusions to heaven and earth, also include a modern twist as the composer dreams of walking home at Christmas time under the warm glow of the street lamps all covered in a silver frost. Written in three verses with a short refrain in between repeating the word “winter,” the piece is a small, celebratory reflection of Christmas time. The carol begins in quiet consideration before opening up to feel hearty and warm. After a playful midsection, the work returns to a softer final coda, which is reminiscentof the opening.