Written for The Choir of Royal Holloway

This work was commissioned by Presteigne Festival, with kind support from Tŷ Cerdd, Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government and National Lottery.

programme note --

Nestled in the age of Shakespeare and Milton is the literary stalwart George Herbert, poet, clergyman, and oft forgotten as Welsh-born (born in Montgomery in 1593). The vivid poetry of Herbert has been something I have come back to as composer over the years, not least because of the sheer amount of existing settings I have sung in the past - Vaughan Williams, Britten, Rubbra, Weir, to name a few. Building on a previous setting of Herbert's Love (commonly known as 'Love bade me welcome'), written in 2018 on the occasion of the marriage of dear friends, Cathy and Andrew Martin, it has been a special moment for me to return to vivid lyricism within Herbert.

Recording Performer(s): Choir of Royal Holloway; Rupert Gough (cond.)

Full of sweet days

Commissioned by Alex Metcalf as part of ‘Tree Listening’ for The Secret World of Plants exhibition at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

'the secret world of plants' (2021) explores the inner workings of trees and was commissioned as part of ‘Tree Listening’ for The Secret World of Plants exhibition at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Alongside the rumbling of water rushing up the tree, the piece explores the unexpected popping sounds of air bubbles being both formed and bursting inside the tree.

© Carol J Jones 2021

the secret world of plants iv. holm oak morning (2021) [extract]

To mark the end of 2021, CMC's amplify podcast invited some guests to reflect on their year. For this episode, pianist and Fidelio Trio member Mary Dullea shares some of her musical highlights of 2021.

Further details and show note: https://www.cmc.ie/amplify/episode-57

amplify #57 - 2021 highlights and reflections: Mary Dullea

Written for The Choir of Royal Holloway

This work was commissioned by Presteigne Festival, with kind support from Tŷ Cerdd, Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government and National Lottery.

programme note --

Nestled in the age of Shakespeare and Milton is the literary stalwart George Herbert, poet, clergyman, and oft forgotten as Welsh-born (born in Montgomery in 1593). The vivid poetry of Herbert has been something I have come back to as composer over the years, not least because of the sheer amount of existing settings I have sung in the past - Vaughan Williams, Britten, Rubbra, Weir, to name a few. Building on a previous setting of Herbert's Love (commonly known as 'Love bade me welcome'), written in 2018 on the occasion of the marriage of dear friends, Cathy and Andrew Martin, it has been a special moment for me to return to vivid lyricism within Herbert.

iii. Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing

i. full of sweet days

BBC National Orchestra of Wales
13 January 2017 performance

Shut Up and Dance (BBC National Orchestra of Wales, cond. Clark Rundell

The text for the piece is taken from The Ruin, an Old English poem which depicts a fallen Roman city. The poem is part of the Exeter Book, a large collection of verses and riddles which dates from the 10th century. The only existing copy of the book was damaged in a fire, affecting what survives of The Ruin. In light of this, I only used extracts of the poem from which words have been lost. In a similar way, some of the musical material has been dismantled to reflect this.

A huge thanks to Orkest de Ereprijs, Wim Boerman, Ana Maria Lopes, Carolina Luís, Francisca Branco, Rob Vermeulen, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Ed Bennett, Anna Korsun, Silvia Borzelli, Guus Janssen, Georgia Denham, Ryan Probert, Paul Zaba, Robert Crehan, Robin Morton, Celia Swart, Paolo Griffin, Dani Blanco Albert, Hugo Bell, Sam Milan, Joe Rhodes and Stephen Plummer.

Performed by Orkest de Ereprijs, Ana Maria Lopes, Carolina Luís, and Francisca Branco on the 1st of March 2019

Conducted by Rob Vermeulen

Ruin (2019)

Unique music for advertising, film & TV.
Introducing you to the contemporary classical world of NMC Recordings

Howard Skempton  Lento

BBC Radio 3 recording of Swansea Philharmonic Choir performing 3 Postcards by Nathan James Dearden

BBC Radio 3 Nathan James Dearden - Swansea Philharmonic Choir.WAV

A lo-fi re-mix of performances of two pieces: 'Dreamtides' (for violin and piano) and 'Music for Cello and Piano', performed on different occasions by members of PM Ensemble at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Steph

violinpianocellopiano

(WE'VE GOT) HONEY LOVE

written for EXAUDI as part of my Masters at GSMD

recorded by EXAUDI with James Weeks 06.10.20

(WE'VE GOT) HONEY LOVE

Created using stems and samples provided by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, through their #BeethovenRemixed project.

Allegro Con Molta Elettronica (#BeethovenRemixed)

Nathan James Dearden is an award-winning Welsh music creator, whose work has been described as “hauntingly beautiful” (Media Wales), and performed and featured by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tippett Quartet, National Youth Orchestra of Wales, tenor Nicky Spence, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Fidelio Trio, and Hebrides Ensemble. His music regularly features in concerts across the UK and overseas, including at the Cheltenham Music Festival, Dartington International Festival, CROSSROADS International New Music Festival and Vale of Glamorgan Festival. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, Resonance FM, RTÉ lyric FM, S4C and Soho Radio, whilst also released on NMC Recordings and Delphian.

Nathan is also a sought-after conductor, arts advisor, event curator and educator, holding arts advisory roles with several international organisations, and is currently Lecturer in Music Composition at Royal Holloway University of London.

i. full of sweet days

nathan james dearden

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