works:a cappella – The Artsy Honker

Good Friday

Byartsyhonker September 30, 2019 0 Comments

Here's my setting of 'Good Friday' by Christina Rossetti: Am I a stone and not a sheep That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross, To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and Moon Which hid their faces in a starless sky, A...

The Passion

Byartsyhonker July 31, 2019 0 Comments

I chose this poem by George Herbert for Station X in my Stations of the Cross, "Jesus is Stripped". To have our clothing removed, particularly forcibly, is so vulnerable; but in asking Jesus to fill the emptiness of his heart and drive out sin, Herbert mirrors that vulnerability. Or so it seems to me, anyway... The Passion Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write Thy sorrows in, and bloody fight;...

Ave Maria

Byartsyhonker March 31, 2019 0 Comments

It was Refreshment Sunday today, and we had at least one of my favourite Marian hymns. Here's my setting of the Ave Maria, then, played by robots: Ave Maria PDF for download. This is part of my Stations of the Cross, premiered in Aberdeen on 7th March; but I'm releasing it online now. Other pieces from the Stations that will work as stand-alone pieces will also be released in due course. As...

There Is No Rose

Byartsyhonker January 31, 2019 0 Comments

Here is my setting of an anonymous text from around 1420: It was wonderful to compose this for the Cathedral Singers of Ontario, who I've sung with for many years on their visits to the UK, and to sing it with them at Canterbury Cathedral early this month. 1. There is no rose of such virtue As is the rose that bare Jesu; Alleluia. 2. For in this rose contained was Heaven and earth in little...