BRING US O LORD GOD for mixed voices (1999)

Duration: 7 mins
Click here to see the SCORE.

The text of this piece, by John Donne, may be familiar from an earlier setting by William Harris. It immediately appealed to me in its structure and in the challenge it laid down to the composer of trying to create 'one equal music'. Juxtapositions of noise and silence, as well as blurring of ends and beginnings, can be heard throughout the piece: as well as being prompted by the words, these ideas have also been explored in a number of my other works. Bring us, O Lord God plays distinctive musical settings of the text's opposing pairs against each other, building to a climax from which there emerges a sense of the serene timelessness evoked by the poet.

Audio extract:

(Performers: Edinburgh Academy Chamber Choir / Peter Backhouse; taken from Regent Records REGCD144)

Other choral works

As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Ye, Who Used to Soar
Has it Flown Away?
Esto Mihi in Deum Protectorem
The Holy Room