A lively carol setting the anonymous 16th-century text ‘All this time this song is best: Verbum caro factum est [The word was made flesh]” originally composed for the choirs of Harrow School England. The main SATB chorus is supported by a semi-chorus of tenors and basses which may be positioned a distance away and the clever interplay between the two groups coupled with the syncopated rhythm and close yet approachable harmony make for an exciting carol both to sing and to hear.
SKU: ST.CN3P
ISBN 9790220224607.
Philip Moore draws on a lifetime's experience of music for Anglican worship to present Bishop Ken's classic evening hymn in darker, more subjective hues than those of Tallis's Canon, to which it is usually sung congregationally. In particular, a penitential note of strained serenity is struck in this nocturnal plea for repose of body and soul. The voices move quietly in comfortable thirds and sixths to the accompaniment of a questioning five-note figure, a phrase which is rarely absent from the organ part and which subtly questions their prayer for peace in its edgy harmonic and metric ambiguity.