SKU: ST.Y287

ISBN 9790220223198.

Composed for the internationally regarded Choir of New College, Oxford, and its conductor Edward Higginbottom, Rhian Samuel's What Cheer? is a bright and uplifting new setting of words already familiar to singers from popular carols by William Walton and Peter Warlock. The scoring is for SATB choir and organ, with optional short solos for soprano, alto and bass.

An eminent and established song composer, Samuel has brought to this text, originally from a 16th-century commonplace book compiled by Richard Hill, her own idiomatic response to the tradition of music for Christmas. Though written for one of the world's great vocal ensembles, What Cheer? is well within the range of accomplished amateur choirs, and the effective scoring for voices captures in ringing choral sounds the buoyant optimism of this poetic celebration of Christ's birth.

SKU: SU.26010040

For vocal quartet, piano trio, and clarinet, in five movements, sets the text of the Cantico delle Creature (Canticle of Creation) by St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226), one the first extant writings in Italian (Umbrian) dialect rather than the official Latin. Many composers have set it to music, including Franz Liszt, William Walton, and Amy Beach. The first movement praises the Almighty, the second natural elements such as wind, fire, and water, the third ponders death and sickness, the fourth is an ode to earth that sustains life and its flowers that provide beauty, and the last returns to praising the Lord and reiterating the message of humility dear to St. Francis. Throughout the work, passages from the traditional Prayer of St. Francis/Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace interject their own commentary, meditating on topics such as forgiveness, consolation, and harmony. S, MS, T, B soli, Clarinet, Violin, Violoncello & Piano Duration: 28’ Composed: 2014 Published by: Michele Caniato Music.

SKU: PR.UE026859

UPC: 803452072737.

Studien zur Wertungsforschung, Volume 59. The editors take a deep dive into the music of Elizabeth Maconchy, a star among British composers of the 20th century. From her early studies with Vaughan Williams, her fascination with the music of Bartok, and her success on the Continent, Maconchy stood among the male dominated British musical world of Elgar, Delius, Walton, Britten, and others. Music as Impassioned Argument presents writings by Maconchy, herself, with others that seek to explore and enlighten her catalog of works.