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

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

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.

Full of sweet days

nathan james dearden