No. 2 - How the Soul Speaks to God-For double mixed chorus a cappella. This is the second movement of Kernis' Ecstatic Meditations which includes Effortlessly Love Flows How the Soul Speaks to God I Cannot Dance O Lord and How God Answers theSoul. Ecstatic Meditations was composed in 1999 for Philip Brunelle and the Plymouth Music Series Ensemble Singers and Choir. Like all of Kernis' music it ‘bears the unmistakable stamp of a wildly fertile musicalimagination…with rich poetic imagery.’ The text is by Mechthild of Magdeburg translated by Jane Hirshfield.Named one of 75 ‘American Masterpieces of Choral Music’ by the National Endowment for the Arts.

A secular carol-Commissioned by the Fairhaven Singers (Ralph Woodward conductor) and premiered in December 2013 this Christmas carol is not explicitly religious and so can be used at any occasion during the festive period. The text tells of ‘this beautiful time of the year’ and how it is a time for reflection on the year that’s gone by. The strophic setting is very approachable being mostly homophonic with some gentle dissonance and would give a contrast to the lighter side of the traditional Christmas choral fare.

American composer and conductor Theodore Morrison has set this lovely William Butler Yeats' poem filled with Irish musical quotes. As an opera composer Morrison has a strong grasp on the emotional impact made possible through programmatic music and he uses this in effective ways in this piece. The virtuosic nature of the Horn part and advanced choral music require an accomplished ensemble but the results will be impressive!

Pawel Lukazewski is a Polish composer specialising in sacred and choral music. His works have been performed all around the globe and he has won awards for his work including first prize at the Frederic Chopin Academy of MusicCompetition for Arrampicata. Beatus Vir Sanctus Paulus was written in 2003.

Stomp Your Foot-Stomp Your Foot is the Choral Square Dance taken from The Tender Land by Aaron Copland. It is about a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. The story follows Laurie the high-school senior daughter of the Moss family as she decides how best to live her life.

Brugvar is a superb piece of SATB choral music with solo Soprano and Baritone soli composed by Vagan Holmboe with lyrics from Karsten Hoydal.

Andrea Ramsey Choral Series-Commissioned for the 2016 Eastern Division ACDA Junior High Honor Choir this Christina Rossetti poem about loss is a wonderful teaching piece for young singers. The melodic line in the opening section is constructedto evoke feelings of beauty loss and remembrance. A middle section paints a picture of grief reality and the feeling of life spinning out of control. After the climax of this middle section there is a return to a sense ofcalm-symbolising that as time passes we are able to come to terms with loss.

In recent years Karl Jenkins has become one of the world's best-selling living composers. He continues to conduct his epic Adiemus Live Concerts with distinguished orchestras including the London Philharmonic featuring in Festivals and concerts in Britain and abroad; and his moving choral work The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace is now firmly lodged as a concert favourite. This new work builds on the style which the British public have come to know and adore. Jenkins has set the usual Latin movements of the requiem mass but in keeping with his usual trait of drawing from other cultures he has also set five Japanese haiku ‘death’ poems. Such poems are usually to dowith nature have a single idea and consist of seventeen syllables divided 5-7-5 over three lines. As one can see from the text the Japanese view nature’s water cycle (precipitation) as being synonymous with life. The Western and Eastern texts are combined in two of the haiku movements Having Seen The Moon and Farewell which incorporate the Benedictus and the Agnus Dei respectively. Both are intoned by male voices in a monastic style as a counterpoint to the Japanese text sung by females. The instrumentation of these haiku settings includes the ancient Japanese wind instrument the shakuhachi. Elsewhere as usual Jenkins has used some ethnic drums (e.g. Arabic darabuca Japanese daiko frame drums) and even a hip-hop rhythm in the Dies Irae!

In preparing for publication the 1935 orchestral version of Britten's Te Deum in C it became clear that there were a number of discrepancies between the manuscript and the original 193 vocal score. Some of these were minor:different articulation and dynamic markings something Britten was later very fussy about but perhaps left unchanged on proof because of his relative inexperience at this stage of his career with the processes of musicpublishing. Others were more important: wrong pedal notes for example which Britten failed to notice on proof and which have been perpetuated in performances and recordings for nearly seventy years. These have been corrected inthe new edition of the vocal score and in the orchestral score (Britten clearly used the published vocal score to prepare his orchestral version). The two versions have been made consistent in other details - rehearsal cues andbar numbers for example - since Britten intended choristers to use the vocal score to perform the orchestral version. This would have been an easy task for these is little discrepancy in essential details between versions (arare departure occurs in bars 53 to 56 where the works 'Lord God of Sabaoth' are unaccompanied in the orchestral version but doubled by Organ in the original). Sustained Organ chords are often filled out with arpeggiated stringwriting while the spacing of chords is frequently much wider in the string version with melodies transposed into different octaves. Although harmony in both versions is identical voice leading is sometimes altered in the latterto make it better suited to the idioms of the instruments concerned.So although in essence the two versions are the same the soundworld explored in each is quite distinct. Britten's orchestral version should neither beviewed as an occasional piece nor considered solely a liturgical work like many of his choral pieces from the 1930s and 1940s it is equally at home in church and concert hall.

Peter Lawson's Tunes From The Trenches - Songs From World War One for Choir and Orchestra or Concert Band or Choir and Piano.A non-stop medley of tunes from World War One from recruiting through to the Last Post. This arrangement can be performed by a Choir with either an Orchestra band or piano accompaniment. There are different choral versions available for Mixed Voice Choir - both SATB (GM131) and for those with a shortage of male voices SA Men (GM134) - for Upper Voice Choir (SSA - GM132) and for Male Voice Choir (TTBB - GM133). The orchestra score and parts (GMCP020) can be used either on its own or to accompany a choir.Therecruiting song 'Your King and Country Want You' starts us off followed by 'Goodbye Dolly Gray' as the soldiers leave for war. 'Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser' is followed by some proper trench songs - various lyrics were improvised by the soldiers!! - 'Three German Officers crossed the Rhine' and 'They were only playing Leap-Frog'. 'The Bells of Hell go Ting-a-ling-a-ling' leads to strains of 'Stille Nacht' recalling the Christmas truce. 'When this Lousy War is Over' and 'There's no place like Home' are balanced by 'Land of Hope and Glory' before the Americans arrive with 'The Caissons go Rolling Along' and 'Over There'. 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' brings us towards a rousing finish save for an optional 'Last Post-lude' to end reflectively.

Dale Warland Choral Series-Most of us think that ?going viral? is a 21st century phenomenon made possible by the immediacy and ubiquity of the Internet. But Tenting on the Old Camp Ground Walter Kittredge's haunting Civil War song of1863 went viral in the age of the telegraph and remains an enduring expression of the yearning for peace. Dale Warland sets this powerful text with a delicate touch including guitar accompaniment thatcalls for fingernail tapping on the body of the guitar.

A re-issue of the most familiar opening number from Britten's majesterial early choral sequence of Christmas settings from ancient English carols. Within the grasp of all choirs of moderate accomplishment

The antiphon 'O Sapientia' (with a text from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom) bears testimony to Pawel Lukaszewski's genuine artistry and to his fascinating very individual musical imagination as an academic composer (hestudied composition at the Music Academy in Warsaw where he is a lecturer at present) as well as to his vast knowledge and profound understanding of the immense wealth of choral church music tradition. He is a man deeplyinvolved in the development of new liturgical music the organiser of an association a competition and a festival of sacred music as well as founder of a choir in one of Warsaw's two cathedrals. 'O Sapientia' is neither eclecticnor experimental – it is rather a mature continuation of the tradition on the highest artistic level.For unaccompanied SATB chorus (with divisions) with a Piano accompaniment for rehearsal purposes.

This is the Vocal Score for Paul Mealor's arrangement of the Scots song by Robert Burns called Ae Fond Kiss arranged for Unaccompanied SATB Divisi Chorus. Ae Fond Kiss is dedicated to Dr. Shaun Ryan and others in the Universities of Ulster and Aberdeen Chamber Choirs. This new arrangement by Paul Mealor adds some inspirational and uplifting elements that are characteristic of Mealor to the classic poem that has been recorded and arranged innumerable times. Mealor  a Welsh composer has composed and arranged a wealth of hugelypopular choral works one of which became number one in the UK Singles Chart and another was played at the 2011 Royal Wedding.