Christmas choral music

A new piece by Chris Hutchings, written to explain why we think singing can change the world. The third verse can be rewritten to suit whatever cause you are singing about; in this version, it is to be sung as part of a concert campaigning to make ecocide (ecological destruction) a crime. It’s for 2-part choir with piano (can be mixed voices, upper voices only or lower voices only: brief optional 4-part split), and is hopefully easy enough to be sung by most children’s choirs. Download a copy for your choir at https://choirsforclimate.com/2022/04/14/why-we-sing/

#ChoirsForEcocideLaw

Why We Sing - Ecocide Law

Short three-part motet - lyrics from "Carmina Gadelica", translated from the Gaelic by Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912). Available for ATB or SABar - suitable for small choirs or a trio of mixed voices. 
To order music for your choir, email hutchingsmusic@hotmail.com 
Recorded by Matthew Curtis of choraltracks.com - thanks!

God to Enfold Me

Short-term thinking has caused a lot of the world's problems. The people in charge of fossil fuel companies, countries, and ecologically destructive businesses know what harm they're causing to the world. They just don't care, and think someone else will sort it out, or they'll be dead before it matters.

The start of this song came to me in a dream. If we were in charge of the world for just a few hours, or a day, we'd take everything we could and enjoy it and never think about the consequences. If we were in charge for a year, maybe we'd plan ahead a bit. But if we were in charge for ever and going to live for ever, we would do things very differently - plan to make things sustainable, hopefully make the world a better place, maybe rule benevolently.

At the moment nobody is planning for a hundred years into the future, or even twenty years. And it shows.

Words and music: Chris Hutchings

1. Oh if the world were ours for just one day,
a treasure briefly lent, then snatched away,
we'd live like kings, take what we could,
dress up in gold, eat all the food we love;
We'd live without a care
if we knew it would be gone
the next day, the next day…

2. Oh if the world were ours for one whole year,
a voyage round the sun and back to here,
where would we go? Where would we live?
What would we take? What would we leave behind?
And would the answers change
if we knew it would be ours
the next year, the next year?

3. Oh if the world were ours for evermore,
we'd have to fix mistakes we'd made before;
What would we reap? What would we sow?
What would we stop? What would we now begin?
What would be different now
if we had to plan ahead
for longer, for longer?

4. Today the world is ours from pole to pole,
the sun and wind and sea, the oil and coal;
What should we save? What should we end?
What can we make? How can we mend the past?
And will we change our ways
when we see the world is ours
to care for, to care for?

Download the score: https://choirsforclimate.com/2023/07/22/if-the-world-were-ours/

Recorded 18th June, Edinburgh, at a #ChoirsForClimate come-and-sing event in the Charteris Centre - thank you to all the singers!

Choirs for Climate

If The World Were Ours

"When you go home, tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow we gave our today."

The score is available from my website on a pay-what-you-want basis: https://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/tell-them-of-us

For 2-part choir: suitable for upper-voice groups (sopranos on part 1, altos on part 2), lower-voice groups (tenors on part and basses on part 2, both singing an octave lower than written) or mixed choirs (choose between SA on part 1 and TB on part 2, or ST on part 1 in octaves and AB on part 2 in octaves, depending on what works best with your choir balance).

Music: Chris Hutchings (b.1979)
Words: John Maxwell Edmonds
(1875-1958), written 1918,
slightly altered by his publishers

Motto of the Burma Star Association,
also known as the Kohima Epitaph - https://www.gchq.gov.uk/information/when-you-go-home

© Chris Hutchings 2023
www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk

Tell Them Of Us

A #ChoirsForClimate double canon! I've recorded it in eleven-part stereo and panned the parts, so hopefully you can pick them out from each other a bit more easily. The first statement of each theme has been amplified so it's easy to hear.

Score: https://choirsforclimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Warning.pdf

Part 1 ("keep driving, keep flying, keep shopping, keep buying, we got this, everything's fine...") is a five-part canon (words by Bread And Circuses - https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses ).

Part 2 ("one degree of warming, two degrees of warming, three degrees of warming, listen to the warning...")is a six-part canon (words by me).

The two groups can be performed independently, but work better together.

Ideally this should be sung at a protest, with singers moving back and forth between the groups whenever they feel like it.

If you're performing it please let me know! (Comment here or send me an email)

All music, and words for Group Two, © Chris Hutchings
Group One words by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social, used with permission
Released under a Creative Commons 4.0 License
Free for non-profit use and for any climate-related fundraising or campaigning
For any commercial use, or to tell me about performances, contact chris@hutchingsmusic.co.uk

Choirs For Climate

WARNING

A song about biodiversity and how humans are destroying it; for younger choirs, there is an optional hopeful ending that can be added. The accompaniment is written for piano, but could be adapted for other instruments on request. The choir parts are mostly unison, with a short 2 part call-and-response section near the end. Creative Commons licensed, free to download for fundraising, campaigning or non-profit performance. Download the score for your choir at https://choirsforclimate.com/2022/10/26/animals/

Animals (lyrics by Brian Bilston) - Edge Chamber Choir

The start of this song came to me in a dream. If we were in charge of the world for just a few hours, or a day, we’d take everything we could and enjoy it and never think about the consequences. If we were in charge for a year, maybe we’d plan ahead a bit. But if we were in charge for ever and going to live for ever, we would do things very differently – plan to make things sustainable, hopefully make the world a better place, maybe rule benevolently.

At the moment nobody is planning for a hundred years into the future, or even twenty years. And it shows. But the message of this song is that we can change things and start planning ahead.

https://choirsforclimate.com/2023/07/22/if-the-world-were-ours/

Oh if the world were ours for just one day,
a treasure briefly lent, then snatched away,
we’d live like kings, take what we could,
dress up in gold, eat all the food we love;
We’d live without a care
if we knew it would be gone
the next day, the next day…

Oh if the world were ours for one whole year,
a voyage round the sun and back to here,
where would we go? Where would we live?
What would we take? What would we leave behind?
And would the answers change
if we knew it would be ours
the next year, the next year?

Oh if the world were ours for evermore,
we’d have to fix mistakes we’d made before;
What would we reap? What would we sow?
What would we stop? What would we now begin?
What would be different now
if we had to plan ahead
for longer, for longer?

Today the world is ours from pole to pole,
the sun and wind and sea, the oil and coal;
What should we save? What should we end?
What can we make? How can we mend the past?
And will we change our ways
when we see the world is ours
to care for, to care for?

If The World Were Ours - TBarB demo

Many thanks to Susan Glass and her choir, The Glass Menagerie (https://www.glassmenagerie.org/) for this performance! 

You can find out more about the piece, and download a copy for your choir, at https://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirs-against-racism/no-man-is-an-island/ . The music is free to download under a Creative Commons license, but please make a donation to an anti-racism or pro-refugee charity if you are able to do so - a list is provided. The version you can hear here is for SABar, but it's also available for TBarB or SSA, with other three-part arrangements on request.

The Road Home (Spring 2024)

No Man Is an Island

https://choirsforclimate.com/2024/10/28/riversong/

A new #ChoirsForClimate piece - Riversong, with words by Rob MacFarlane!
Riversong is a “broadside ballad” which protests the slow death of rivers in the UK and around the world –– and sings for their revival. I’ve created a choral score for it and released it under a Creative Commons license: it is free to download and use.

It's available in two versions - a short version for smaller choirs and community groups, using the first half of the text (recommended for groups of 10 or more singers - if you can sing rounds like Frere Jacques, this should be easy enough for you), as heard in the demo here, and the large choir version which uses the full text (recommended 20+ singers - some trickier work but should be approachable for any experienced group).

Both are free to download at https://choirsforclimate.com/2024/10/28/riversong/

Riversong - Chris demo

This a cappella setting in 2 parts can work for upper voices S/A, lower voices T/B, or a mixed group (S/B, ST/B, S/AB, or SA/TB). The parts interweave and play off each other, making it an impressive showpiece despite its short length (just under 2 minutes). An ideal opener for a service of 9 Lessons & Carols. This was recorded by the choir of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, just before performing it at their Christmas Eve service 2024.

The ranges are fairly broad – lower part goes from low A to high Eb, upper part goes from low Bb to high Gb. Transposed versions available on request if needed.

To order copies, email me. £20 flat rate for a PDF with your choir’s name on it, print as many copies as you need, or £2 per copy for fewer than 10 copies.

Adam Lay Ybounden - Greyfriars Kirk Choir

A sample recording made with Cantamus (cantamus.app) of a harmonically rather complicated setting of "O Magnum Mysterium", an ancient Latin prayer from the Roman Breviary.

This version is for SABar (three voices) and it's also available in a lower key for ATB. The soprano part doesn't go very high, only to an E.

Watermarked score: https://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/O-Magnum-Mysterium-2024-watermarked.pdf Contact me on hutchingsmusic@hotmail.com if you'd like to order a copy for your choir.

"O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
iacentem in praesepio!
O beata virgo, cuius viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia!"

Translation:
"O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the newborn Lord,
lying in a manger!
O blessed virgin, whose womb
was worthy to bear
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!"

O Magnum Mysterium - SABar version, Cantamus demo

"Night Song" - words by Marnanel Thurman (https://queer.party/@marnanel), music by Chris Hutchings (https://hutchingsmusic.co.uk)

To order a copy for your choir, please contact Chris through the website above.

Demo made with voices from cantamus.app and piano backing track from Finale, edited in Audacity to match tempo.

Complete lyrics (please do not use elsewhere without permission from the author):

When my room has sunk into darkness
When it’s crept to the depths of night
Then I fill my head with the words I read
In my book when the world was bright.

When my house is hushed into silence
When the sound all around me ends
Then my thoughts still hold all the tales I told
By the fire with the smiles of friends.

When the world is curled under blankets
When I doze and I close my eyes
Then my ears still ring with the songs I’ll sing
When I run when the sun shall rise.

- Marnanel Thurman, 2018

Night Song demo

Words by Michael Rosen:

Sometimes a banana is past its best (well past its best).
It's been in the bowl for more than a week;
It's not that it's squashy or soft or brown - 
It's down to the fact that it's started to leak.
The banana is past its best,
It must now be laid to rest.
The banana is past its best,
It must now be laid to rest (lay it to rest).

If you'd like a score to perform this, email me (contact via hutchingsmusic.co.uk!)

Sometimes A Banana - words by Michael Rosen

Another demo made with cantamus.app! This is an old setting of a Shakespeare song (originally for solo singer and guitar in 2003, arranged for choir in 2008). It's for SATB choir, no divisi, should be approachable for most choirs.

Score video at https://youtu.be/sVlKGiYjMXg

It's available via SheetMusicDirect: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/985432/Product.aspx
or SheetMusicPlus: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/come-away-death-20063638.html

The text is a lament for lost love from "Twelfth Night".

"Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown.
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown.
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there!"

Ranges:
soprano C4-F5
alto A3-Bb4
tenor F#3-G4
bass G2-D4

Come Away Death - Cantamus demo

Vocal demo made with cantamus.app

Score available from MusicSpoke: https://musicspoke.com/downloads/a-new-year-carol

A setting for SATB of an old English poem:

The old year now away is fled,
The new year it is entered;
Then let us all our sins down-tread,
And joyfully all appear.
Let's merry be this day,
And let us now both sport and play,
Hang grief! cast care away!
God send us a happy new year.

And now with New-Year gifts each friend
Unto each other they do send;
God grant we may our lives amend,
And that the truth may appear.
Now like the snake his skin
Cast off all evil thoughts and sin,
And so the year begins:
God send us a happy new year!

A New Year Carol - Cantamus demo

Thank you to the City of Oxford Choir and conductor Duncan Aspden for selecting "Monster" as the winning piece in their "Breaking Ground" competition. This recording is from the first performance, which took place on 28th March 2025 in Oxford University Museum of Natural History underneath a T-Rex skeleton!

In writing this piece, I saw a vision of a dinosaur skeleton emerging from a cliff after a storm,
caused by fossil-fuel-driven climate change. Lepidodendron, diaphorodendron, sigillaria and
calamites are the Latin names for four of the main types of trees that decayed and fossilised
to form coal. The music emerges from overlapping phrases of these Latin names in a way analogous to the trees fossilising into coal. Our use of this finite, polluting energy source (and likewise oil and other non-renewable fuels) has not only caused climate change, rising global temperatures, and storms like the one sung about here, but has brought almost all parts of our biosphere to the edge of disaster in the blink of a geological eye. 

When we see dinosaur skeletons, we should remember that our current dominion over this earth has been microscopically brief in comparison, and continuing the human race as we know it will require us to actively take care of the planet - something we have the capacity and knowledge to do, which no other previous inhabitants have had. Let's not waste that.

The complete text is below:

lepidodendron, diaphorodendron, sigillaria, calamites

Decayed (decades)
Compressed (centuries)
Fossilised (eons)
Remained,
Three hundred million years;
Trees grew to stone.

Then we dug deep,
Mined, refined, burned to ash:
Three hundred years of smoke in the sky…

Sunlight, through ghosts of ancient trees,
Warms the air, warms the sea:
A wind rises,
Waves whipped to calamity
by a Carboniferous curse,
Crashing on the coast,
Carving a cliff-face,
Stone falls away...

A great jaw bares its teeth;
A huge claw scratches at the sky.

The monster
is not in the cliff
not in the wind
not in the air
not in the sea
not in the sun
not in the coal.

We broke the ground;
Now, break the curse
And pray the trees forgive.

lepidodendron, diaphorodendron, sigillaria, calamites

Text by Chris Hutchings, available for other uses on request

Monster - Chris Hutchings: City of Oxford Choir and Duncan Aspden

"Patapan" is a Christmas piece for female voices (SSA with some optional SSAA chords). My setting here is sung by the Carvetii Trio - http://www.carvetiitrio.co.uk/

If you'd like to order a copy for your own choir, or see the score, please visit my website: you can see this (and other music for female voices) at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/scores-by-choir-type/female-voices/

Lyrics:

Tu-re-lu, patapan...

Willie, take your little drum, Robin take your flute and come,
And be merry while you play, on this joyous Christmas day.

When the men of olden days to the King of Kings gave praise,
On the fife and drum did play, so their hearts were glad and gay.

God and man today become more in tune than fife and drum.
So be merry while you play, sing and dance this Christmas day.

Patapan - Chris Hutchings, sung by the Carvetii Trio

A tricky eight-part piece (SSAATTBB), with close harmonies, frequent key changes and chromatic movement - a challenge for a more experienced choir, highly effective in evoking the darkness that Christ's coming can bring us out of.
Order copies at https://musicspoke.com/downloads/o-clavis-david
This recording is made with cantamus.app.

O Clavis David - made with Cantamus

A  poem by Robert Louis Stevenson (originally titled "Requiem"), set to music by Chris Hutchings and here performed by NYCoS Girls' Choir.

The score is available from the composer: http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/scores-by-choir-type/children/ at a cost of £1 per single copy, or £20 for a PDF to print as many copies as you need.

Under The Wide And Starry Sky

A setting of Mary Frye's poem "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep" for SATB choir - no divisi (would suit four solo voices) - ideal for memorials or similar occasions.

Purchase copies from MusicSpoke: https://musicspoke.com/downloads/do-not-stand-at-my-grave-and-weep-chrishutchings/

Please share this track if you enjoyed listening - thanks!

To The Mountain

Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep

Performed by Cantemus (George Watson's College girls' choir) directed by Steven Griffin
At St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, 16th December 2015

A simple setting for SA and piano - English words by Lachlan MacBean, translated from the original Gaelic by Mary MacDonald (lyrics are public domain).

You can see a sample score at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/citm1.pdf - if you'd like a copy for your choir (SA and piano, fairly easy) please email chris@hutchingsmusic.co.uk to place an order. A version in Gaelic is also available on request!

Child In The Manger (live)

A short choral piece for Easter, for unaccompanied SATB choir (no divisi, could be performed effectively by a solo quartet). The soprano line is independent, and sounds beautiful sung by young trebles above adult ATB singers. It can also be performed as a unison anthem with the ATB parts being played on organ.
To see a score and order your own copy, please visit https://musicspoke.com/downloads/crux-fidelis/

If your school or choir would like a piece written for you, please get in touch!

This recording was made with a grant from the Bliss Trust, in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh, and recorded by the Ad Hoc Choir conducted by Ewan Armstrong.
The words are by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609). Translation:
Faithful cross, above all other, one and only noble tree,
None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit compares to thee.
Sweet the wood and sweet the nails; sweet the weight that hangs on thee.

Crux Fidelis - Chris Hutchings (2000)

"O Clavis David" for SSAATTBB choir - a challenging piece for Advent. The piece begins with dark, chromatic and constantly altering chords, before finally reaching a luminous white-note section to finish. 

 See the score: http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/oclavisdavid2016-watermarked.pdf 
To order a copy, please contact chris@hutchingsmusic.co.uk

O Clavis David

"Welcome Carol" was written in 2016 as part of #choirsagainstracism - you can get it FREE for your own choir at www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirsagainstracism . It's a carol that talks about welcoming everyone, no matter where they came from. It's a bit political and it's also great fun to sing, very easy, and can be picked up by any choir on just a short rehearsal. Words and music by Chris Hutchings - thank you to John Thomson and his children's choir in Inverness for recording this!

#choirsagainstracism

Download sheet music

Welcome Carol - John Thomson and Inverness Choir

"Adeste Fideles" was commissioned by Wimbledon Choral Society (with thanks to Ronnie and Sue Dunbar) - premiered 17th December, St Paul's Southfields, conducted by Neil Ferris, organist Michael Higgins. It's for SSAATBB choir and organ.

Score available at www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk - if you'd like to commission a piece of music for your own choir, see details at hutchingsmusic.co.uk/commission .

The choir and audience loved it:

"Congratulations on the piece, it's super. They loved singing it and the rehearsal tracks really helped... It has all you could want for a carol; jaunty rhythms, beautiful harmonies and a noisy finish!" - Neil Ferris, conductor

"The world premiere sounds stunning. It's got everything: joy, drama,
thoughtfulness." - Tilly, WCS choir member

"Tonight we sang our hearts out performing "Adeste Fideles" by
@hutchingsmusic, such a beautiful evocative carol. Thank you Chris, we love it" - WCS

"Making history involves looking forward. And how better at Christmas than with a great new carol: Adeste Fideles- thank you @hutchingsmusic" - HWSF_History

"Fabulous @WimbledonChoral concert last night with such beautiful new carols especially @hutchingsmusic amazing #AdesteFideles written for us" - Sarah Hendry, Chair of WCS

"Many congrats to @hutchingsmusic for his wonderful Adeste Fideles - and thanks to @WimbledonChoral for commissioning it" - @petermckean

"So fun singing last night @WimbledonChoral carols, esp @hutchingsmusic Adeste Fideles! Fab evening" - Hilary, WCS choir member"

Adeste Fideles - Wimbledon Choral Society

"No Man Is An Island" for TBarB voices - this piece is also available for SSA or SABar three-part choirs.
This recording is by the men of Glasgow University Chapel Choir, conducted by Katy Cooper.
The score can be downloaded for free at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirs-against-racism , and is released under Creative Commons. Please make a donation to a refugee or anti-racist group if you are using the piece.

No Man Is An Island - Chris Hutchings

"Mary Morison" is an arrangement for SSATB of Robert Burns' song. This was originally commissioned by the Deutscher Chor of London and premiered in the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace; the recording above is by Quintessential Voices (https://www.quintessentialvoices.co.uk/) who will also be singing the piece in their concerts on 19th May and 11th June!

If you'd like a copy of the score for your choir, it's scored for SSATB, and can be ordered from MusicSpoke: https://musicspoke.com/downloads/mary-morison

Chris Hutchings

Mary Morison

From "3 Memories of Kurdistan", words by Aine McAllister (twitter.com/aine_mcallister), from the collective memory of Kurdish women she has worked with in a refugee camp in Grande Synthe, France:
"I remember my father, he 
puts his arms out and says, come here.
My father is good and beautiful.
Now I'm happy when I 
help my child write his name."

This recording is by KC VITAs Chamber Choir from Kansas City (http://www.kcvitas.org), conducted by Jackson C. Thomas.

You can download the score (free if used for anti-racism or pro-refugee purposes - Creative Commons 4.0 License) at http://hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirsagainstracism

My Father - KC VITAs Chamber Choir #choirsagainstracism

Music by Chris Hutchings, lyrics translated by Donald Campbell.

Edinburgh Napier Chamber Choir, conducted by Michael Harris and accompanied by Peter Backhouse, recorded in St Giles' Cathedral, 12th November.

Also available for TBarB choir. Score and more details at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/the-birlinn/

The Birlinn - Chris Hutchings, lyrics trans. Donald Campbell

Incitement to Sailing

I set this to music with the tragedy at Grenfell Tower particularly in mind. Brian Bilston's “The Kindness of Strangers”, was written in memory of the bombings in London and Manchester, as a tribute to all those who helped in the aftermath of the disasters, and the text is equally applicable to those who helped at Grenfell. 

A sample score is available from my website at www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/the-kindness-of-strangers/ or at https://musicspoke.com/downloads/the-kindness-of-strangers/ . If your choir is doing a concert to raise money for Grenfell survivors or families, let me know and I will provide the piece for free.

This recording is from the premiere performance, given by the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, conducted by Katy Cooper, 21st November 2017.

The Kindness of Strangers

There is a beauty
that walks in the darkness,
makes its way
among the bombs
and broken lives,

offers blankets
and shoulders to cry on,
puts on kettles
and bandages,
mends what it can,

and asks
for not one thing back,
as it wraps 
in its arms
the troubled night,

and waits
for the morning
and its pale sunlight.

Brian Bilston

Brian Bilston’s poetry and further links can be found at twitter.com/brian_bilston .
Chris Hutchings’ music and recordings can be found at hutchingsmusic.co.uk .

The Kindness of Strangers

"We Are One Voice" was commissioned for the 2018 Beaconsfield Festival of Choirs (www.beaconsfieldfestivalofchoirs.com) with music by Chris Hutchings (www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk) and lyrics by Euan Tait (euantait.com). It's a fast, joyful setting of Euan's poem about unity and protest.

"This year we are delighted to have commissioned a new song to be performed at the end of every concert.  We Are One Voice has been written by the Scottish composer, Chris Hutchings, setting words by Euan Tait.  It is energetic and exciting, and has been brilliantly written so that it can be performed by all the different types of choir taking part in the festival." - Jane Smith, Beaconsfield Festival of Choirs

The festival included choirs of many different sorts, who all had to be able to join in with this piece. This means it's available for the following choir line ups (all with piano):
unison voices
2-part SA
2-part TB
ST/B
S/AB
ST/B
SABar
SSA
TBarB
SATB
There is an optional middle section for more advanced choirs with 3-4 parts, which is included in this recording: it runs from about 1'20" to 2'42". Younger or less confident choirs can perform the piece without this section.
The pieces should be available via MusicSpoke soon (www.musicspoke.com). For now, you can preview the scores at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/we-are-one-voice/ .

Chris: twitter.com/hutchingsmusic
Euan: twitter.com/euthebass

We Are One Voice - premiere recording

"I brought your name to the river" - music by Chris Hutchings, words by Aine McAllister

Commissioned and premiered by the Edinburgh Singers, conducted by Alistair Digges

Recorded 17th March 2018 in St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place, Edinburgh, by Tim Cooper

Music © Chris Hutchings 2018 | Words © Aine McAllister 2017
twitter.com/hutchingsmusic | twitter.com/ainemcallister
www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk

I brought your name
to the river,
called it on the wind.

Words whispered in water,
the river carried
your name to the sea.

Your voice
in the ocean's drum
echoed back to me.

I sent my longing onto a breeze
through a forest
of silver leaves.

You returned on the wing 
of a song bird
to move a while with me.

Three times I called it,
a gift
to the sky - the blue

of your eye - 
felt myself swim
in the air you filled.

I still. 
A falcon sways;
drifts away.

See the score and order copies for your choir: https://musicspoke.com/downloads/i-brought-your-name-to-the-river/

I brought your name to the river

A carol based on a text by Isaac Watts, with music by Chris Hutchings.
Sung by the University of Hull Chapel Choir, conducted by Simon Debruslais. 
Recorded in Beverley Minster.
To see a score or order a copy for your choir, visit http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/scores-by-choir-type/satb-easy/

Chris Hutchings - demo recordings

Hush My Dear

"Answer The Question" for SATB choir. This recording is by the Reid Consort, conducted by Cole Bendall, and recorded in St Vincent's Chapel, Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

This piece was written for the National Library of Scotland's Digital Exam Resits project - http://digital.nls.uk/exams/re-sits/ - in response to the 1962 Higher Maths exam paper.

"Answer The Question" was built on the graph in the final question of the paper. My first decision was to make the volume of the choir's singing follow the curve of the graph (with 0 being loudest and 1.5 being silent) - so it begins at its loudest, decreases to near silence, crescendos again to its equal-loudest point at about three minutes, and fades away over the last section.

In order to make this work I had to find a narrative in the piece that made this make sense: so the stark commands of the opening instructions "answer the whole of the question" give way to a nervous, shifting quieter section, then a building, intimidating interrogation to an angry climax, and finally a fade-out again on "time is lost".

It partly reflects the experience of an examination (not my own - I never had a problem with maths exams!) but also raises questions of authority, what orders we are prepared to accept from others, and "what is really required" in tests such as these - should we submit to the ways of thinking that are dictated for us, even at the cost of our own independence?

See the score at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/answer-the-question-watermarked.pdf (PDF format) and other works at www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk .

Answer The Question - music by Chris Hutchings, sung by the Reid Consort

The words for "Where are my unnumbered days?" are by Mohamed Assaf, a Syrian refugee who now lives in England, and were written soon after his arrival in England at the age of 12. They are also published in England: Poems from a School (published by Picador; edited by Kate Clanchy, Mohamed’s teacher). Thank you to Kate and Mohamed for giving me permission to use this heartbreaking text.

Once, I lived in a beautiful town;
Once, I owned a beautiful house,
with a grand garden full of flowers,
and I was prince of it all. Once,
I lived in a house with a name;
And now, I am just a number.

Nations talked to nations
and robbed me of myself.
They made me
a number among millions.

But my rights have no number.
My home had no number.
I could not count the petals of the flowers.
My childhood in the garden
had no limits on it.

Take me back to my country
and I can show you the numbers.
The numbers who suffer.
The quantities of beauty.
The fallen flowers.

Mohamed Assaf

This performance is by the Wicker Park Singers of Chicago, who selected this piece in their 2019 call for scores. This was recorded at their "Journey to Begin" concert in April 2019, conducted by Mark Tomasino. (The piece also won the Murau International Music Festival call for scores in Austria a couple of weeks later.)

The score for this piece is *free* with the understanding that it should be used to raise funds or political awareness for refugees and immigrants. For example, you could take a collection in aid of a refugee charity at the concert.

Also performed in London in August 201 9 as part of a #choirsagainstracism Come and Sing fundraiser, and by Harlequin Chamber Choir in London in November 2019.

For more information and to download the score, see http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirsagainstracism/unnumbered-days/ .

Where Are My Unnumbered Days - Wicker Park Singers

Selected movements from the world premiere of "Requiem"
University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, directed by James Grossmith, with Andrew Forbes at the organ.
"Thou Knowest, Lord" for SSAA is published by MusicSpoke: https://musicspoke.com/downloads/thou-knowest-lord

Thou Knowest, Lord, The Secrets Of Our Hearts

"Hunters and Hounds", final movement of "Statue Songs"
Commissioned and premiered by Dingwall Choral Society
Conducted by Norman Bolton
Pianist: Aileen Fraser
Libretto by Bob Pegg
Music by Chris Hutchings
https://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk

Hoary dawn - shifting haar
Early mason walks to shore
Waiting there - slab of stone
Mason stands - eyes wide
Fingers spread, caresses stone
Grips chisel - raises mallet
Strikes!
Out of stone burst…
Hounds and hunters, hunters and hounds, hallooing and baying at break of day
Hounds and hunters, hunters and hounds, rumbling down the rattling scree
Bold the bray of the echoing horn, misty their breath as they pant along
Steely their purpose - they ride to the kill, ride to the kill of the stag on the hill
Deep in a pool in the river, drowsy salmon
Hangs in chasms of dimpling, dappling light
Out of the woods, boar - bustling, bristling -
Trips to the brim of the pool to drink at dawn
Hard on his trotters, bear - grumbling, tumbling -
Seeking breakfast - salmon fresh from the stream
Bear skids - boar bucks
Bear rears - boar shies
Sharp teeth - yellow tusks
Sharp claws - piggy eyes
Descending the hill, hounds and hunters
Clattering round the river’s bend -
At the sight of bear and bristling boar
Dogs stall, horses shy,
Dogs riot, riders fall
Stag on the hill, roused by the racket
Scenting the carnage - turns and runs
Down through birch, juniper, pine
Out of the ken of the hunters and hounds
Boar barrels back into the thickety woods
Snarling and snuffling, bear bids breakfast goodbye
Salmon, in jewelled fastness, dreams of the sea
Sun is setting - close of day
Out of stone, mason has summoned
Horses, riders, hounds, prey
Boar, bear, salmon, stag
Magicked up before his eyes
Happy mason, whistling home
Out in the bay dolphins rise,
dreams of the sea...

Statue Songs

Hunters and Hounds

A new setting of "In The Bleak Midwinter" - premiered by Madrigirls, directed by Katy Cooper, in Glasgow University Chapel, 2nd December 2012.
A score can be found at http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/inthebleakwatermarked.pdf
The arrangement you're hearing here is for three female parts and one male part (SMezABar), transposed up by a minor third - the score above has the SATB arrangement. Harmonies are mostly the same, with some phrases moved between parts. Could also be performed by SSAB, SAAB, SSAT or SAAT.
You can watch and hear the Edinburgh Singers performing the SATB version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrLNHO9_j_M
If you'd like to place an order for either version, please email me: chris@hutchingsmusic.co.uk .

In The Bleak Midwinter - Madrigirls

Music by Chris Hutchings, lyrics by David Ervin
See http://choirsforclimate.com to download the full score for free. Please use this music to raise funds or awareness for environmental causes.

A special thank you to all the singers who recorded this in isolation over June 2020:  Sam Perlo-Freeman, Matthew Vernon, Clive Whitburn, Paddy Bayley-Woodburn, Chris Hutchings, Gordon Thornett, Stephanie Strachan (soloist), Jamie Lynn Webster, Sally Jaquet, Vallerie Being, Emma McMillan, Gill Barlow, Lorna Ellis and Catherine Siddall.

Oh God, send Lazarus to cool my burning tongue.
Oh God send Lazarus, I’ve lived too large too long.
Send Lazarus, although I’ve scorned him for so long.

Oh God, send Lazarus ‘cross chasm dark and wide
Oh God Send Lazarus, to ev’ry heart confide;
Send Lazarus to set their fateful ways aside.

But why, my friend, should they hear Lazarus’s song?
Oh why, my friend, when they’ve heard crying for so long?

They’ve heard...
Moses and the prophets
Ocean level’s rising
And warming by the day
Moses and the Prophets
Flooding and tsunamis
And coral reef decay
Moses and the prophets
Melting of the tundra
Pandemic and disease
Moses and the prophets
Fires ever burning
and smoke upon the breeze
And no one ever, really sees.

Moses and the prophets
Hurricane destruction,
With loss of human life.
Moses and the Prophets,
Coastal devastation,
And relocation strife.
Moses and the prophets
Weather out of season,
Drought, polluted air.
Moses and the prophets
Habitat depletion,
Extinction and despair.
And no one ever seems to care.

Oh God, send Lazarus to cool my burning tongue.
Oh God send Lazarus, I’ve lived too large too long.
Send Lazarus,
Although I’ve scorned him
All along.

Send Lazarus

Chris Hutchings is a Scottish composer based in Edinburgh, specialising in works for choir. His works have been performed by the National Youth Choir of Scotland, New London Singers, Cappella Nova, Scottish Voices, the Edinburgh Quartet, Daniel's Beard, Pure Brass, and a wide variety of professional and amateur groups around the world. He has received commissions from several groups in the UK and USA. Recent prizes include the Murau Music Festival Composition prize in 2019, Kantos Choir's composition prize in 2021, and winning the City of Oxford Choir's  "Breaking Ground" competition in 2025.

For more details, see http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk for details of upcoming performances, score samples, free arrangements, and more recordings.

Videos, many with scores, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7ao4fKMuVXVz0la0r0VrQ/

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