Category: compositions

The Message of the Wind

Byartsyhonker April 15, 2014 0 Comments
I have a new choral work up on the Choral Public Domain Library: The Message of the Wind. This was written for the Nicola Dando Choral Composition Prize, which this year had five set texts; in the end, I thought my setting of another of the texts was a stronger piece, and submitted it for the competition instead. The words are by Harriet Monroe, a poet whose work I hope to explore more. The wind...

To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Byartsyhonker March 25, 2014 0 Comments
Here's one I made earlier! I wrote this in autumn 2006; I'd asked for texts to set, and my then-sweetheart suggested these lines by Tennyson: Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will...

Thaw

Byartsyhonker March 23, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this for the Sing for Our Planet songbook -- but it was just too short, one minute instead of five, and I didn't like any of the things I tried to lengthen it. So, I submitted something else instead. In the meantime, this piece might make a good encore piece for a small community choir, or fit well with other pieces about spring or awakening. Thaw Over the land freckled with snow...

Pied Beauty

Byartsyhonker February 6, 2014 0 Comments
A few weeks ago I spied a call for scores with a theme of nature, one or two parts and accompanied by piano. I asked on Twitter for suitable texts, preferably not too church-y because the context wasn't a liturgical one. One text that caught my eye is "Thaw" by Edward Thomas; I will post about it separately once it is complete. I believe Pete Phillips is the person who first suggested this text...

The Doubter

Byartsyhonker January 27, 2014 0 Comments
This is another piece I wrote for the Small Choirs Competition. Unusually, I've used my own text for this one. I had planned to set the text just as a hymn, but enjoyed employing a bit of retrograde and some changes to timing in order to turn it into a more interesting anthem. It's set for unison voices but there's no reason you couldn't swap things around even more by setting some for lower and...

Versicles and Responses

Byartsyhonker January 27, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote these for the Small Choirs International competition. It's a fairly standard Versicles and Responses for Anglican Evensong services -- but being set for SAB instead of SATB it might be more suitable for small choirs or those with few men. License for the music is CC BY-SA, as usual. The MIDI file is a bit odd in the timing in one or two places: making the reciting notes display...

“I walked in darkness”: an anthem for Epiphany

Byartsyhonker January 13, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this one for a competition at St Paul's Cathedral. They didn't get back to me, so I'm assuming that someone else won. The words are by Thomas Thurman, and were written at my request. I like his poetry generally, but have usually worked with finished works; it was interesting and delightful to see this poem taking shape and even have a bit of influence over the wording in one or two lines....

Two tunes for “Christ, whose glory fills the skies”

Byartsyhonker January 11, 2013 0 Comments
Every time we sing "Christ, whose glory fills the skies" I despair a bit. The tune "Ratisbon" is... well, it's okay, but it's not anything to really write home about. The other tune suggested in New English Hymnal is just boring. So I thought I'd write a couple of my own tunes for the same text. It is really a wonderful text, after all! I think that on reflection my tunes aren't much to write...

Transfiguration: updated

Byartsyhonker January 11, 2013 0 Comments
I've corrected Transfiguration, which I wrote in 2012. The new edition corrects some slightly dodgy Italian and also one of those pesky errors where Sibelius thinks it's okay to put two quaver rests instead of one crotchet rest. I have also added the file to the Choral Public Domain Library. This will be one of around five pieces performed at the Small Choirs Festival on 2nd February. We also...

AcWriMo 10: Colworth CM

Byartsyhonker November 12, 2012 0 Comments
Since I stumbled across them in the "confirmation" section of the New English Hymnal -- in fact the one hymn makes up the entire section -- I've liked these words by Matthew Bridges (1800-94): 1 My God, accept my heart this day, And make it always Thine, That I from Thee no more may stray, No more from Thee decline. 2 Before the Cross of Him Who died, Behold, I prostrate fall; Let every sin be...