'for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain'for junior-upper voice SSSA Choir and Double SATB Choir a cappella (Score)Commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great BritainText is by Arthur W. E. O'Shaughnessy, adapted by Jessica Duchen.Composer's NoteWhen the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain requested a short piece for their gala concert at Birmingham's Symphony Hall, I was particularly excited about the prospect of writing for 300 singers. A recent research trip to Estonia resulted in somewhat of a revelation: having heard and seen their world-renowned choirs in action (literally!) has resulted in We are the Music-Makers having the less mainstream 'surround-sound' of upper voices/junior choir at the back and sides of the audience and a further stereophonic double-choir on stage.This poem was sent to me by Tim Williams (my ex Head of English at school), and immediately seemed to fit this occasion. This text has already been set magnificently by Elgar, so partly to avoid any kind of comparison and also to bring its timeless message up to date, I asked my poet friend Jessica Duchen to give it a sligtly more contemporary feel.A poem about global music-making (which ties in with the NYCGB's recent World-Music CD), it speaks about humankind, nation to nation, and the mention of Babel inspiring a 'speakng of tongues' effect by using as many different international words for 'music' as possible as an accompaniment (not an easy task, as many of them are similar to our own word!). These are: French (Musique), Romanian (Muzica), Swahili (Mahewa), Polish (Muzka), Estonian (Muusika), German (Muzik), Japanese (Ongaku), and Spanish (Música). / Choeur Mixte (SSAATTBB) A Cappella

Nr. 5 aus The Same Flame-Commissioned by the Somerset England based charity Churchill Music! The Same Flame was inspired by Pierre de Coubertin’s ideals of Olympism which gave rise to the modern Olympic and Paralympic values: Respect Excellence Friendship Courage Equality Determination and Inspiration. These seven values are celebrated in five movements so four of them had to double up – Friendship with Equality and Courage with Determination. Each movement is scored for slightly different choral forces so the work is varied. Also individual movements may suit different choirs giving the opportunity for individual performance or collaboration between choirs. All fivemovements of The Same Flame are published as individual octavos. A complete vocal score is available on request from the publishers.“Excellence” makes the not always popular point that excellence is not achieved overnight nor by accident. While spelling out the ‘doggedness diligence discipline [and] drudgery’ that go into achieving ‘poetry in motion’ the song also celebrates the attainment of those who achieve excellence and comes to the inescapable conclusion that the ‘unbegrudged drudgery’ is worth it! The (sometime tongue-twisting) language is very colourful and engaging and as the final movement of “The Same Flame” the music is equally exciting and explosive.

Cantate Domino (Psalm 96:1 3). This piece was originally written for male choir (BA 7416).By adding women’s voices the version for mixed choir presents a further dimension of colour. This version also makes it possible to divide the choir into two groups one for women and another for men and to have them sing either together or as separate units.This version for mixed choir (BA 7414) was premiered in Uppsala Cathedral (Sweden) on 26 October 2013 with the Uppsala Cathedral Singers conducted by Ulric Andersson.

POD-Upheld By Stillness is a work for Unaccompanied SSSAATTBB Choir by composer Owain Park. A setting of the poem 'The World' by Kathleen Raine the piece lasts around 6 and a half minutes. Park describes the work as 'A reflection on the Sanctus and Benedictus from the Mass for five voices by William Byrd ' ...Some echoes of Byrd's music are incorporated in the piece including two sections marked 'quasi Hosanna' but the composer focuses mainly on creating various effective bi-tonal chord clashes to generate an appropriate atmosphere for the cosmic theme of the poem complete with star-like 'flickering'. - Geoffrey Webber Choir& Organ Magazine