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Corp, Ronald: A Christmas Mass Ref: D95

SATB and Organ or Piano

Recently released on EMI Gold by BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year, Chantage, Ronald Corp's A Christmas Mass combines the time-honoured Latin text with the melodies of over 70 familiar carols and hymns in a musical feast for all lovers of a traditional Christmas.

Some of the tunes provide important thematic material. Others appear more briefly in the joyful accompaniment for organ or piano. All are skilfully woven into a bright and attractive score that will reach out to every member of an audience or congregation in a unique celebration of the season's musical heritage.

Price: £4.95

Corp, Ronald: Missa San Marco Ref: W218

SATB with optional organ

This attractive and versatile short setting of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, by one of the UK's leading choral conductors and composers, is ideally practical for both Anglican and Roman Catholic sung eucharist. It can be performed 'a cappella' or with organ accompaniment by a small amateur or professional choir with occasional divisions, and will be no less welcome repertoire for annual patronal celebrations, where appropriate.

Written for the Highgate Choral Society in 2002, the 'Missa San Marco' received a memorable performance the following year in St Mark's Basilica, Venice, hence the title. No less suited to more modest liturgical venues, it has also been successful as a concert item. In 2007 it was performed unaccompanied at the Wigmore Hall, and in May 2008 it will be heard at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank, with the organ part arranged by the composer for orchestra. Score and parts are available on hire from the publisher, and are fully compatible with the vocal score.

Price: £2.95

Corp, Ronald: Three Medieval Carols Ref: W217

SATB (Unaccompanied)

Myn Lyking; The Virgin's Cradle Hymn; Quem Pastores Laudavere

An expert choral director as well as a highly regarded composer, Ronald Corp has written unaccompanied SATB settings of three famous medieval carol texts, Myn Lyking, The Virgin's Cradle Hymn (Dormi Jesu) and Quem Pastores Laudavere. The idiom is modern yet accessible, with an ear for stylish harmony that includes both modal progressions and colourful added chords, embroidered in some rich yet untaxing divisi writing. The carols may be performed as separate items or as a group, the first two being cradle songs for the Nativity, the third also suited to the celebration of Epiphany on 6 Janaury. Ronald Corp is Founder and Artistic Director of the New London Orchestra and New London Children's Choir, and Musical Director of the London Chorus and Highgate Choral Society.

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Price: £1.95

Hayes, Morgan: Japanese Sweet. Ref: Y235

Unison, piano and hand-held percussion

Japanese Sweet was written for the New London Children's Choir, conductor Ronald Corp, and first performed at LSO St Luke's, London on 9 November 2006. The young performers are divided into two groups, one of which sings the short Japanese poem to traditional pitched notes, while the second group plays hand-held triangles and drums, and sings or whispers isolated syllables, or performs them glissandi. The poem, a terse and evocative description of Mount Fuji, is repeated twice, and on each repetition the accompaniment changes to reflect different aspects of the text. Japanese Sweet is a challenging and rewarding study in contemporary vocal techniques, which encourages children to explore sounds and the relation of music and image in fresh and imaginative contexts.

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Price: £2.20

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Howells, Herbert: Before me, Careless lying. SSATB Ref: W219

Before me, careless lying is a fine example of the contrapuntal art of Herbert Howells (1892-1983), inspired by the work of the great English composers of the Renaissance period, those of the madrigal school in particular, but in its passionate sensibility essentially twentieth century. The composer wrote this partsong on Christmas Day 1918, and dedicated it to his friend the organist Dr R. R. Terry, Director of Music at Westminster Cathedral, and chairman of the Tudor Church Music committee. The words are by the poet and biographer Austin Dobson, whose Collected Poems was published in 1897.

Perhaps as a token of the composer’s regard for Terry’s pioneering work in furthering the appreciation and understanding of sixteenth-century church music, Before me, careless lying was originally published with the alto and tenor parts notated in traditional clefs. It is here reissued with clefs in modern forms of treble and transposed treble respectively, and with a keyboard transcription of the vocal parts which is intended for use in rehearsal.

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Price: £2.45

Kelly, Bryan: The Capriol Carol Ref: W222

SATB and Organ or Piano

The Capriol Carol is a magical union of the treasured early English lyric 'This enders night' and the haunting tune of the 'Pieds-en-l'air' from Peter Warlock's much-loved Capriol Suite.

Church choirs comfortable with part-singing will find it easily within their grasp, but it will be no less effective when performed by larger choral groups. A simple yet telling organ part adds to the effect of this delightful new setting, which deserves a permanent place in the Advent and Christmas repertoire.

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Price: £1.60

Kelly, Bryan: Kentucky Canticles Ref: W215

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for SATB and Organ.
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Bryan Kelly's Kentucky Canticles pay homage to the unforgettable music of the deep south, and in particular to the legendary black singer Paul Robeson.

Dancing spiritual rhythms infuse the Magnificat's energetic song of joy, and there are lively musical illustrations for the mighty, the proud, the rich, and the humble and meek before the return of the opening phrases heralds an exultant Gloria.

In contrast, the Nunc Dimittis draws on the expressivity at the heart of the spiritual style to capture the deep yearning of Simeon's song of farewell. Both movements have short passages for solo voices that may be taken by members of the choir.

The Kentucky Canticles are dedicated to John Scott and the Choir of St Thomas Fifth Avenue, New York, and are the latest addition to a long and distinguished output with which Kelly has enriched the musical heritage of Anglican worship.

Price: £2.95

Northcott, Bayan: Canticle: The Doubting of Thomas Ref: AC238

Solo Alto, Tenor and Baritone voices with organ

Price: £2.50

Northcott, Bayan: Regina Celi (No. 4 of Four Votive Antiphons) Ref: Y210

Mezzo-soprano, three tenors and baritone.
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The publication of Regina Celi completes the cycle of four votive antiphons based on the traditional chants of compline, in which the composer Bayan Northcott has imaginatively recreated many of the techniques of medieval and Renaissance music in the context of a contemporary vocal ensemble. Two earlier settings from the sequence, Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater, have recently been recorded to great acclaim by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, on Signum SIGCD070. Whether performed by mezzo soprano, three tenors and baritone or full choir (the score may be used for either version) the cumulative effect is of a powerful distillation of the chant, as choral writing of increasing complexity brings the work - and the cycle - to a serene conclusion in F major.

Price: £2.50

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Sing We Merrily: Music for Eighteenth-Century English Choirs Ref: D93

Edited by Nicholas Temperley and Susan Drage

A collection of great historical interest, this practical anthology of anthems will appeal to West Gallery and Sacred Harp groups, as well as to church choirs both in Britain and America wishing to add an authentic and colourful strand of music to their worship. The contents are drawn from the definitive collection of this repertoire, Musica Britannica Volume 85, Eighteenth-Century Psalmody, with keyboard reductions and a comprehensive note on performance also included.

Price: £8.95

Vaughan Williams, Ralph: O praise the Lord of heaven Ref: W220

Two SATB choirs and semi-chorus.

Reissued to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, O praise the Lord of heaven was first heard in 1913 at St Paul's Cathedral. It is a bold, antiphonal anthem, in the same rich idiom as the Fantasia on the Theme of Thomas Tallis, and an ideal piece for performance in a large resonant acoustic.

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Price: £2.65

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