SKU: HL.14019150

The Lines from 'The Youth of Man' is dedicated to the University of Birmingham Motet Choir. Crafted with the composer's usual skill in choral writing, it uses the technique whereby two voice parts often double each other an octave apart. In three continuous sections, it rises to three climaxes, the third of them, which is the biggest, has much subdivision at the words 'Depths of thyself'. These are then repeated as the quietening peroration.

SKU: HL.48025402

UPC: 196288201038.

Short motet commissioned by St DominicÂ’s Sixth Form College, Harrow-on-the-Hill, UK, to celebrate its 40th anniversary. MacMillan chose a text which is entirely appropriate to young people about to be let loose on the world to fulfil their potential: 'Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire'. But where another composer might have made this a fanfare MacMillan writes with the gentleness of sincerity. The music is very straightforward and in wanting a solo soprano line he outlines all the ways this can be achieved: soloist, group of sopranos, or all the sopranos if the altos can be split into two. The choir repeats the mantra text above throughout the motet, while the soprano solo line is given the prayer which follows. Only at the very end do they all join together in the words 'Jesus, love, Jesus, love' with a lovely E major ending.

SKU: CA.3110814

ISBN 9790007047986. Key: A major / b minor. Language: German/English. Text: von Ziegler, Christiane Mariane. Text: Christiane Mariane von Ziegler.

The cantata Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe [It is well that I go forth] BWV 108 for Cantate Sunday is one of the cantatas composed on texts by the Leipzig poetess Christiane Mariane von Ziegler with which Bach concluded his second annual cycle of cantatas after he had abandoned the annual cycle of chorale cantatas at Easter 1725. The text contains two sayings by Jesus which are taken directly from the Sunday gospel reading (John 16:5-15). The quotation opening the cantata was set by Bach as a bass aria with solo oboe d'amore; it breathes tranquility and assurance. The second quotation, however, is set as an extended choral fugue in three sections; it forms the center of the cantata. The free text surrounding the biblical quotations is divided into two arias in which the emphasis is on melodic lines; there is only one single recitative, the original text of which was substantially abridged by Bach. A four-part chorale concludes the cantata. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3110800.

SKU: CA.3110807

ISBN 9790007047931. Key: A major / b minor. Language: German/English. Text: von Ziegler, Christiane Mariane. Text: Christiane Mariane von Ziegler.

The cantata Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe [It is well that I go forth] BWV 108 for Cantate Sunday is one of the cantatas composed on texts by the Leipzig poetess Christiane Mariane von Ziegler with which Bach concluded his second annual cycle of cantatas after he had abandoned the annual cycle of chorale cantatas at Easter 1725. The text contains two sayings by Jesus which are taken directly from the Sunday gospel reading (John 16:5-15). The quotation opening the cantata was set by Bach as a bass aria with solo oboe d'amore; it breathes tranquility and assurance. The second quotation, however, is set as an extended choral fugue in three sections; it forms the center of the cantata. The free text surrounding the biblical quotations is divided into two arias in which the emphasis is on melodic lines; there is only one single recitative, the original text of which was substantially abridged by Bach. A four-part chorale concludes the cantata. Score available separately - see item CA.3110800.

SKU: CA.3110819

ISBN 9790007136581. Key: A major / b minor. Language: German/English. Text: von Ziegler, Christiane Mariane. Text: Christiane Mariane von Ziegler.

The cantata Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe [It is well that I go forth] BWV 108 for Cantate Sunday is one of the cantatas composed on texts by the Leipzig poetess Christiane Mariane von Ziegler with which Bach concluded his second annual cycle of cantatas after he had abandoned the annual cycle of chorale cantatas at Easter 1725. The text contains two sayings by Jesus which are taken directly from the Sunday gospel reading (John 16:5-15). The quotation opening the cantata was set by Bach as a bass aria with solo oboe d'amore; it breathes tranquility and assurance. The second quotation, however, is set as an extended choral fugue in three sections; it forms the center of the cantata. The free text surrounding the biblical quotations is divided into two arias in which the emphasis is on melodic lines; there is only one single recitative, the original text of which was substantially abridged by Bach. A four-part chorale concludes the cantata. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.3110800.

SKU: CA.3110811

ISBN 9790007047955. Key: A major / b minor. Language: German/English. Text: von Ziegler, Christiane Mariane. Text: Christiane Mariane von Ziegler.

The cantata Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe [It is well that I go forth] BWV 108 for Cantate Sunday is one of the cantatas composed on texts by the Leipzig poetess Christiane Mariane von Ziegler with which Bach concluded his second annual cycle of cantatas after he had abandoned the annual cycle of chorale cantatas at Easter 1725. The text contains two sayings by Jesus which are taken directly from the Sunday gospel reading (John 16:5-15). The quotation opening the cantata was set by Bach as a bass aria with solo oboe d'amore; it breathes tranquility and assurance. The second quotation, however, is set as an extended choral fugue in three sections; it forms the center of the cantata. The free text surrounding the biblical quotations is divided into two arias in which the emphasis is on melodic lines; there is only one single recitative, the original text of which was substantially abridged by Bach. A four-part chorale concludes the cantata. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3110800.

SKU: PR.312419020

ISBN 9781491131862. UPC: 680160680474. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?