Unaccompanied choral piece. Duration: 12’
1. In the desart
Wordless opening:
I’th desart, in a desart way
They wandred: no towner finde,
To dwell in. Hungry & thirsty:
Their soule within them pinde.
Then did they to Iehovah cry -
Psalm 107, Bay Psalm Book

2. Vanity Fair
They presently saw a Town before them and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the Towne there is a Fair kept, called Vanity Fair.
At this Fair are all such Merchandize sold, As  houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms; lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts – as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, …and moreover, at this fair there are … deceivers, cheats, games, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing - thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood red colour.
Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress

3. Hymn
What danger is the pilgrim in?
How many are his foes?
How many ways there are to sin?
No living mortal knows,
Some of the ditch, shy are, yet can
Lie tumbling in the Mire.
Some tho they shun the frying-pan,
Do leap into the Fire. Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress

4. Get Wisdom
Enter not into the way of the wicked, and walke not in the way of euill men.    
 …Turne from it, and passe by. For they can not sleepe, except they haue done euill, 
They are not satisfied, until they have made someone stumble. 
Get wisedom: get vnderstanding: … Wisdom is the beginning, 
get wisedom therefore: and aboue all thy possessions get vnderstanding.
Exalt her, and she shall exalt thee: She shall giue a comely ornament vnto thine head, yea, she shall giue thee a crowne of glorie. Amen. Proverbs 4, The Geneva Bible

to the Celestial City

Concert opener about the ancient temple at Karnak in Egypt, written in 1996 by Judith Bingham and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yakov Kreizberg.

The Temple at Karnak

Bingham, Judith ROSSETTI PARADISE (live 20241102, Uppsala Cathedral)

Premiere of A Requiem for Mr. William Lawes by Judith Bingham, starts at 47.30. Evokes the music of the 17th century composer who died at the Siege of Chester. Gallicantus and the Rose Consort of Viols at the 2016 Trigonale Festival, Austria.

A Requiem for Mr. William Lawes Premiere

A piece influenced by the Whistler painting of Limehouse. Played by David Jones.

Limehouse Nocturne

A piece describing a nocturnal London scene. Played by David Jones.

The Moon Over Westminster Cathedral

York Minster has few images of the Annunciation, so the composer chose a tiny medieval  stained glass window as inspiration: an older Virgin Mary is praying, but behind her stand an angel - Gabriel? - with a blood red sword. Another kind of Annunciation. Sung by the Cathedral Choir of York Minster, conducted by Robert Sharpe. Published by Peters.

Bingham Nunc Clip

York Minster has no images of the Annunciation, so the composer chose a tinymedieval  stained glass window as inspiration: an older Virgin Mary is praying, but behind her stand an angel - Gabriel? - with a blood red sword. Another kind of Annunciation.

Bingham Mag Clip

Four Minute Mile describes the moment when Jesse Owens won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, infuriating Hitler. It's basically a fast dash of a piece the there is a slow second subject with is more like a slow-mo replay of the action. Written for the Leyland-DAF band in 1991, it was also arranged for orchestra.

01 4 Minute Mile

A new setting by Judith Bingham of the medieval carol Jesu Swete Sone Dear, describing the feelings of the Virgin Mary as she holds the new born Jesus. Sung by the Gesualdo Consort in 1984 (SSATB). Published by Novellos.

Jesu Swete Sone Dear

Williams Fairey band conducted by James Gourlay.
Prague is the 4th of Bingham’s 5 brass band works. Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 in 1995, it was premiered at Manchester’s Festival of Brass by the Williams Fairey Band, conducted by James Gourlay to whom the work is dedicated.
It was a visit in 1994 to Prague that prompted this piece, which uses this contemporary backdrop to evoke powerful and at times disturbing images from the city’s colourful history and mythology. As Bingham writes: ‘ the city is used to symbolise the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. The central figure is the Golem, a creature created from clay by Rabbi Loew in the sixteenth century, which having run amok in the city was laid to rest in the attics of the Old-New synagogue. It seemed to me to symbolise the turbulent history of Prague with its many invasions from Celts and the Hussites to the Nazis and Communists.’
Prague falls into 4 clear sections of vivid and powerful imagery – it opens with 7 urgent chords that represent the seven locks and keys that guard the ancient crown of Bohemia in St. Vitus’ Cathedral. Next comes a mysterious snowy scene set in the Ghetto with a high trombone solo. The following slow section depicts the Charles Bridge, with its obscure monuments and statues; this cuts abruptly to the final section in Wenceslas Square, so often the scene of defeat and triumph in Prague. The Golem appears to rise again, but is drowned out by the seven chords of the opening.

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