Nico Muhly: St John’s Service: SATB: Vocal Score

Johannis Cantabrigiense-Nico Muhly's Third Service (Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis) is a work for SATB Choir and Organ Accompaniment. Commissioned by the Master and Fellows of St John's College Cambridge it was first performed by St John's College Choir on 29th May 2016. A full performance lasts around 7.5 minutes. 'The American composer Nico Muhly has often spoken of his love of the early English church music which he sang as a choirboy and his recent choral works include a Third Service composed for St John's College Cambridge. (Given his love of music by Thomas Weelkes we can perhaps hope for at least six more.) This setting though has nothing to do with the early English repertoire and is in a bold modern idiom more akin to Tippett's famous setting for St. John's. The Organ plays a varied and independent role throughout sometimes with dynamics that are quite different to those in the voice parts. The Organ part is sometimes written on two staves without further comment and it's not entirely clear what is required between pages 3 and 4 where three staves become two. The vocal parts include some modest vocal effects and there are Soprano and Alto solos in the Nunc dmittis. The Gloria of the Nunc is a varied repeat of the Magnificat Gloria together with a subtly reworked conclusion to match the general mood of the movement. - Geoffrey Webber Choir & Organ Magazine