?I asked my friend the poet Einar Askestad if he could write a poem for me about love between father and son brothers and God. I felt that these forms of love are seldom sung about. The poem moved me greatly and I have tried to put music to these words which is simple yet full of beauty. In the four movements of this suite-like piece various aspects of these relationships are conveyed?. - Mårten JanssonBiography:My music is my own and I have never tried to be original. That has always been my motto and I have only tried to use music to express all the feelings life consists of. This has led people todescribe my music as both ?so sad that it sounds like birds who have lost their wings? and ?the happiest classical music we ever heard?. I have also always preferred beautiful music to atonal music and that is surely the reason why the most part of my music is more on the sad side but what a dream it would be to be able to create beautiful music that?s bubbling over with joy! My compositions consist of almost only sacral music. This is to express my own faith but also my appreciation and respect for the timeless texts that have been used for centuries after centuries.In 1994 I was lucky enough to start conducting the female choir Carmen and I conducted them until we decided to disunite 2010. This is of course the biggest reason why most of my compositions are for female choirs the knowledge that what I write during the night will be tested the next evening is a driving force that not so many are lucky enough to have.I work as a voice music theory and conducting teacher and conductor in Uppsala were I was born -65 and still live. My education is in short: two years of musicology at Uppsala University and a MFA in Music Education and Dalcroize Rhythmics at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.- Choral works a cappella.- Sample pages for download: www.baerenreiter.com.

This exclusive collection brings together 12 of Nico Muhly?s sacred works for mixed-voice choir. These vivacious fresh and dramatic pieces will make an impact whether in the church or in the concert hall and range from the intimate Lord keep us modest when we claim to the effervescent Bright Star Carol alongside service music such as Muhly?s Third Service. All are accessible to learn and offer choirs a new slant on contemporary choral music at its very best.  'Choral music has always been at the emotional core of my musical output. Even when I?m writing large-scale orchestral works (or indeed chamber music) I alwaysfind myself returning to techniques and textures I?ve greedily stolen from centuries of music from Tye to Howells early and recent. I try to design my own choral music primarily for use in worship where the measure of the success of the piece is if it helps guide the listeners? ears upwards and elsewhere as sacred architecture and the various rituals of the church themselves are meant to do. The specificity of music heard only in certain seasons is for me an important and thrilling element of the choral tradition: a Beethoven Symphony is welcome at any point in the year but an anthem for Candlemas works only then at a certain time of day and on a certain day of the year. With this functional spirit at the heart of the compositional process I hope that the music collected here makes equal sense in a concert setting. These works range from ordinaries of the mass to hymns to motets and represent a decade and a half of output.' - Nico Muhly

French pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier (b. 1942) studied at the Paris Conservatoire and his since won many prizes for his performances. He also composed and published a variety of works including his unusual yet significant Bruits De Paroles. Pennetier's Bruits De Paroles is an unusual yet helpful aid to choral singing. The study book provides detailed instruction on the pronunciation of various sounds while singing. For all choirs Pennetier's Bruits De Paroles is a highly useful aid.