Stainer & Bell Ltd New for Choir

New for Choir

New Titles

New for Choir

Coleman, T Brian: As water to the thirsty. SATB and Organ or Piano. Arranged John Barnard. Ref: W221

Text by Timothy Dudley-Smith

The tune OASIS by Brian T. Coleman and the hymn 'As water to the thirsty' by Timothy Dudley-Smith are among the most popular unions of words and music in contemporary Christian worship, and Stainer & Bell are pleased to publish this arrangement for SATB, congregation and organ, by John Barnard. Verse one is for sopranos alone. In verse two, sopranos sing with the congregation in full harmony, and in verse three they provide a descant to the tune sung by altos, tenors, basses and congregation together.

Price: £1.60

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.

PDF Sample

Price: £1.95

Darke, Harold: As the leaves fall. Short cantata for Soprano Solo, SSA Chorus and Orchestra Ref: AC226

SSA Vocal Score

Harold Darke's cantata As the Leaves Fall , composed in 1917, is a lament 'for the fallen', to a text by a little-known soldier-poet Joseph Courtney. Darke's quietly pastoral voice, most familiar today from his organ pieces and exquisitely lyrical setting of Christina Rossetti's In the Bleak Midwinter, passes the test of extended form and expression in a manner worthy to bear comparison with prophetic utterances decrying the futility of war by Bliss, Britten and Vaughan Williams. Of around 12 minutes' duration, the work is scored for soprano solo and either SSA or SATB chorus, accompanied by a small orchestra of harp and strings, with single flute, clarinet and horn. A welcome return to the choral repertoire of a long-forgotten work by a minor master, As the Leaves Fall will be of particular interest to anyone in search of stimulating new material for concerts relating to the observances of Remembrance Sunday.

Price: £3.00

Darke, Harold: As the leaves fall. Short cantata for Soprano Solo, SATB Chorus and Orchestra Ref: AC227

SATB Vocal Score

An ideal work for concerts that focus on the theme of remembrance, Harold Darke's short cantata for soprano solo and SATB or SSA chorus and small orchestra sets a poem written in 1916 by Joseph Courtney, a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Its atmosphere of restrained passion is the setting for a heartfelt elegy for the victims of war, conceived in the spirit of an abiding Christian hope.

Price: £3.00

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.

PDF Sample

Price: £2.20

Jackman, Jeremy: Wedding Responses Ref: W216

For unaccompanied high voices.

Jeremy Jackman has brought his wealth of experience as a choral conductor to create a new set of practical and highly attractive short Wedding Responses for upper voices. The texts are from the traditional rite of the Book of Common Prayer, much favoured for its qualities of solemnity and occasion. Reminiscent of the ceremonial styles of Bliss and Walton, the music of each brief response is both contemporary and accessible in style, yet is easy to perform and well within the ability range of a typical church choir, whether using trebles or mixed voices.

Price: £1.60

Kelly, Bryan: Kentucky Canticles Ref: W215

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for SATB and Organ.
PDF Sample

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

Krouwel, Juliet: Slow down Moses! Ref: W214

SATB unaccompanied
Words by Cecily Taylor
PDF Sample

The message of Slow Down, Moses! for unaccompanied SATB is that, rushed off our feet in the bustle of the world, we must make time to hear the voice of the spirit. The words are a short, highly entertaining paraphrase of a text from Exodus. A light-hearted setting of a serious message, the music contains ample scope for humorous exaggeration, and should prove a hit with audiences and singers alike.

Price: £1.60

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.
PDF Sample

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

Samuel, Rhian: Pan ddaw ust y nos/When the calm of night Ref: Y222

SATB and organ
PDF Sample

A short choral nocturne for SATB and organ, Pan ddaw ust y nos is a setting of a poem by Nesta Wyn Jones. Welsh speakers will respond to the subtle imagery and verbal nuance of the poet's wordplay, as well as to the intense lyric moment of charged reminiscence captured both in her evocation of bygone summer evenings and in Rhian Samuel's simple, evocative music. Pan ddaw ust y nos was written for the London Welsh Chorale, conductor Kenneth Bowen, to be premiered at St David's Cathedral, West Wales, on 24 September 2005. An English translation by the composer is also included.

Price: £2.50

Vaughan Williams, Ralph: Five Mystical Songs. Arranged for SSAA by Donald Armstrong Ref: D92

Chorus Part
Arr. SSAA, Ba solo and orchestra.

Following the publication and recording of Willow Wood, for solo baritone, SSAA chorus and orchestra, the Five Mystical Songs of Ralph Vaughan Williams are now available in an arrangement for same forces of baritone and upper voices, but with the orchestral accompaniment entirely unchanged from the well-known original.

A particular feature of this arrangement by Donald Armstrong is a new realisation of the ever-popular Antiphon in which the composer's alternatives for performing this song as a vocal solo or with SATB chorus are combined into a movement for baritone and SSAA, with the soloist here singing from the chorus part rather than the vocal score. It will be welcomed by any choral society looking to explore lesser known works for high voices, and could indeed be the focus for an entire evening of music drawn from this fascinating choral genre.

Orchestral material, including versions for string orchestra (or string quartet) and piano, is available for rental. (Refs. HL216, HL216A, HL216B).

Price: £3.25

Vaughan Williams, Ralph: Willow-wood Ref: D90

Vocal Score
Cantata for Baritone Solo, SSAA chorus and orchestra
PDF Sample

Following the revelatory release of A London Symphony in its original version, the publication of Willow-wood is another landmark in our deepening understanding of the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Last performed in 1909, the year of The Wasps and On Wenlock Edge, this setting of four sonnets by the Victorian poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti has recently been reconstructed from the autograph score, and orchestral material made available on hire from the publisher. Reflecting the veiled eroticism and sombre atmosphere of the texts, the music is dark-hued and sensuous, its wordless female choir looking forward to the Five Mystical Songs, A Sea Symphony and Flos Campi. In this heightened atmosphere of Pre-Raphaelite passion, the composer's richly chromatic harmonies sound an unfamiliar note, and the piece, which lasts about 14 minutes, will not only fascinate specialists, but also have a broad appeal to many lovers of English music, for whom it will be a significant discovery.

A recording of Willow-wood on the Naxos label was the Gramophone Editor's Choice for November 2005.

Orchestral material available for rental (Ref. HL372).

Price: £4.95

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