Commissioned by Choir & Organ in partnership with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, for their New Music Series (May/June edition 2021.

Recorded by Rupert Gough (organ) at the Chapel of Royal Holloway University of London on 11 April 2021. 

programme note--
after BWV 60, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder)

Although I, or anyone else for that matter, would not have anticipated experiencing what we have done in recent times, it has been a sobering reminder of how much music is a balm. Over recent months I have been returning to music that ‘takes me somewhere’. Music that sits with me. Music that enables me to tap into forgotten memories. Music that I have played as a child. Music that I had learned as a teenager. Reliving those long hours, nestled away in a practice room at school, listening to Glenn Gould recordings. Reliving that sense of safety, of blissful otherness.

storms don’t last foreveris a response to (or even a reimagination) of J. S. Bach’s chorale setting of “O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort [‘O eternity, you word of thunder’]" (BWV 20, although also adapted for a choral cantata BWV 60), a chorale apt to our current times as we grapple with both loss and perpetual hope. A work for organ of two-halves, there is both a distillation of the original melody by Johann Schop and Bach’s harmonisation, a distant thunder, which dissipates into the chinks of light and hope seen in Johann Rist’s hymn:

O eternity, you word of thunder,
o sword, that bores through the soul,
o beginning without end!
O eternity, timeless time,
I know not, before such great sorrow,
where to turn.
My heart, completely terrified, trembles,
so that my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth.

[…]

Take me, when it pleases You,
Lord Jesus, into Your fortress of joy!
- njd.

storms don't last forever

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

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)

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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.

storms don't last forever

nathan james dearden

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