John Tavener: Choral Music: SSA: Vocal Score

John Tavener's Coplas composed in 1970 for unaccompanied SATB Choir.'Coplas is a short anthem for voices and tape. It belongs to a much larger work called 'Last Rites' which I have beenthinking about for about a year. It is based on the mystical idea of St. John of the Cross which obsesses me - 'the more I live the more I must die.' Hence the deliberately static nature of Coplas.In once sense Coplas is aprolonged decoration of the 'et sepultus est' cadence from the Crucifixus in Bach's Mass in B minor. In another sense I think of it not so much as my music but a way of listening to Bach's music.' - JohnTavener

Music played an enormous role in the works of William Shakespeare, while his own sonnets, poems and soliloquies have provided continuing inspiration for many composers through the years. The Novello Shakespeare Choral Collection, inspired by the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death in 2016, is an exciting anthology of choral works that are settings of Shakespeare's words. For choirs of all types and abilities, this collection has been edited by David Wordsworth so that all the pieces are fantastic both to sing and hear.The collection features some beautiful settings that have well and truly stood the test of time, such as Thomas Arne's Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind and Henry Leslie's How Sweet The Moonlight Sleeps. More recent settings from 20th century and contemporary composers include Ernest Moeran's Sigh No More, Ladies, Gary Carpenter's Lo, Here, The Gentle Lark and John Tavener's Fear No More and Look In Thy Glass.Not only this, the Shakespeare Choral Collection boasts several works that were specially commissioned, including John Joubert's Be Not Afeard, Richard Sisson's Light Thickens and Pawel Lukaszewki's Weary With Toil, I Haste Me To My Bed. Some pieces have never appeared before in print, such as those by Kevin Olsen, Bernard Hughes and John Gardner. These songs truly are a joy to perform, with some relatively simple arrangements that are purely fun to sing, while some more complex settings that will be thoroughly rewarding for choirs and audiences alike.A total of 26 fantastic works comprise The Novello Shakespeare Choral Collection, which would work as a wonderful concert programme on its own, or could provide a wealth of options for choirs looking to expand their repertoire with a range of unique settings. Also included is a fascinating introduction by editor David Wordsworth, and notes describing each piece.Words written by indisputably the greatest writer in the English language can only be matched with music by composers of talent and renown such as these. The Novello Shakespeare Choral Collection is an essential anthology of stunning settings of beautiful words which will be performed and enjoyed for many years to come. / Choeur Mixte (SATB)

The Lamb is John Tavener's setting of a poem by William Blake arranged here for unaccompanied Upper Voices by Barry Rose. The work lasts around 3 minutes. TheLamb has long been a favourite of choirs and audiences alike and with this unique arrangement it can also be enjoyed by Upper Voices. The work was composed by Tavener in just a single afternoon and wasdedicated to his nephew's third birthday.   This arrangement received a positive review from Geoffrey Webber in the January/February 2016 edition of Choir & Organ.

John Tavener's Ex Maria Virgine is a sequence of Christmas carols their emphasis on the Nativity and the Virgin Mary. Scored for SATB unaccompanied or with Organ the collection isrepresentative of the broad range of Tavener's choral writing. These carols may be performed as the full sequence or as individual pieces: carols such as Ding! Dong! Merrily on High and Unto Us is Born aSon to familiar texts made novel and exciting or Rocking a simple four-part setting sure to become a favourite with choirs of any accomplishment. Includes a performance CD recorded by the choir of ClareCollege Cambridge.

Ecce Puer is a composition by John Tavener for Unaccompanied SATBB Choir. A setting of one of James Joyce's poems a full performance lasts around 2 and a half minutes. 'John Tavener'ssetting of the James Joyce poem Ecce Puer was composed in 2010 and has just been released for the first time. It is another of his brief homophonic compositions based on the juxtaposition of a small number of unrelated chords some dissonant and some diatonic though pride of place is given to a (non-functional) dominant 9th chord.' - Geoffrey Webber Choir & Organ Magazine  

Vocal Score for John Tavener's Three Hymns Of George Herbert for SATB chorus percussion and strings. Commissioned by the Legatum Institute [www.LI.com] as part of its ?British and American Notions of Liberty?programme in the year of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. First performance on 21st April 2013 in Washington National Cathedral by the City Choir of Washington conducted by Robert Shafer.'The ThreeHymns of George Herbert were written after a long illness and represent for me a Hymn of thanksgiving to God for a relative return to health. They are intended to be sung in a large resonant acoustic with the main choir andstring orchestra at one end of the building and an echo choir and string quartet at the other. The percussion (tubular bells gongs and tam-tams) should sound from a gallery or other raised position.The Hymns wereinspired by the transparent poetry of George Herbert and are dedicated in gratitude and love to the memory of Mother Thekla former Abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption Normanby near Whitby who died in 2011.' -John Tavener

Marienhymne is a piece on a smaller scale than Tavener’s dramatic cantatas and is written for unaccompanied choir and semiChorus. Tavener was drawn to writer and philosopher Frithjof Schuon’s vision of the Virgin Mary asuniversal and primordial Woman and has used an extract from his work Maria as the libretto in German for this piece. The composer calls for ‘radiance and ecstasy’ and also a ‘great distance’ between the main choir and the echochoir.John Tavener was that rare creature a composer of serious music and serious religious music who also achieved commercial success. He burst into the popular consciousness with the performance of his Song for Athene at thefuneral of Princess Diana but had been a highly respected and frequently-performed composer since the premiere of his dramatic cantata The Whale in 1968.

Tavener's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis was commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. First performance on 9th April 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall London conducted by Mike Brewer.Fordouble choir (SSAATTBB/SSAATTBB) and Children's voices (SSSSAA).Composer's NoteThe Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are both set in Latin. The Magnificat has a festive character and is written for doublechoir with children’s voices. Nunc Dimittis is a very personal and simple response to the beautiful text for SATB.             - John Tavener