Lolololocucucus

This bleak piece was written for SATB (Divisi) and String Quintet in September 2014. 
Performed in Vaganza's Evening Concert on Friday 13th March 2015 by Latin Name TBC and friends.

Et Nomen Nostrum Oblivionem Accipiet per Tempus
Et Nemo Memoriam Habebit Operum Nostrorum.

And our name in time will be forgotten,
And nobody will remember any of our works.



Et Nomen Nostrum

Kwa is a shortening of the word choir. 
Scored for Alto Sax, Bari Sax, Trombone, Bass Trombone and Percussion, This piece was written in honour of my housemates at 49 Everett Road.
Performed enthusiastically by Jack Fearn, Izzy Williams, James Keirle, Stephen Williams and James Waymont on 2nd June 2015 in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall

Locus iste

Icosa sing my piece Adam Lay YBounden. 
Recorded in Icosa's concert on 04/01/2016, St Mary-at-Hill, London.

Adam Lay Ybounden

Icosa sing my piece, Of Flowers and Faithfulness in their concert on 02/05/16.
The text is taken from Cameron Henderson-Begg's longer poem 'A Hymn to The Kingdom'

Where the land meets the sea
and the waves roll on free
stands a single, a lonesome old Thistle.
Like a man who has sinned, all alone, washed by wind
where the gales run through rocks with a whistle.

And he's watched as Time flows
by a lonesome old Rose,
once a beauty, a vibrant red flower.
But her beauty has gone and the thistle's moved on 
and the Rose sheds more tears by the hour.

Where the sea meets the land,
and the the cliff faces stand,
are two flowers who once were together. 
And the the people say 'Those are the Thistle and Rose'
and the shoreline is battered by weather.

Of Flowers And Faithfulness

This piece was written for Icosa's Concert on the Theme of War and Refugees on Saturday 14th October 2017 at St Mary-at-Hill in London.

For SSATTBB, It brings together the Sarum and Gregorian chants of the Agnus Dei from the Roman Catholic Mass, setting them against each other as cantus firmi in two parts, Gregorian in Bass 2, Sarum in Alto. Then these are put in canon with themselves with two parts beginning 2 beats after, Gregorian in Soprano 2, Sarum in Bass 1. These create a 4 part texture over which the 3 remaining parts sing a swooping melody in 3 part canon. The parts swap roles through the piece.

To me, this is another of quite a few experiments I have done in the past few years in which I marry the techniques of Renaissance Polyphony with my own harmony and test myself to see how far I can go with a single idea, motif or rule. 

Here the rules fade away by the third repetition of Agnus Dei, with raw emotion overriding the rules. In the final words, Dona Nobis Pacem, Grant us Peace, I try to convey the sense of frustration I think many of us have with the world today.

Photo taken by Laurel Turton.

Agnus Dei

Coventry Carol is probably the darkest carol of them all, not that Carols are usually known for their gloom... I took inspiration from my friends' video of them singing Coventry Carol in the style of old fisherman with long weird vowels and nasal voices.

The piece smooths along until we reach the more pointy and sharp words, almost like daggers. Then in one big shout, 'neither say nor sing' somewhere between the two, the piece concludes in the fisherman style. Rory Johnston who was in the video I took inspiration from actually is singing Tenor in this recording of a live performance by Manchester Singers in December 2017.

Coventry Carol

These were performed by Icosa in Abergavenny, September 2017. I wrote them in Summer 2017 and they are probably my favourite pieces I have written because they offer a lot of different textures. It's almost you are writing 13 short choral movements and it was a good place to experiment. 
The singers are wonderful and make this sound effortless. A tenor from Icosa, Daniel Lewis is the cantor.
Please get in touch if you want a score. Photo by https://laurelturton.com/

LukeMather

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