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This piece is based on the text of award-winning American poet Jane Kenyon’s poem by the same name, which contemplates the end of the day, and alludes to the parallels in life and death. With a quiet, reflective beginning, listeners are transported to the peaceful countryside in the late afternoon. Voice parts in turn bathe the listener in rays of light as they “shine through the chinks in the barn”. The piece culminates in an affirming declaration – “let evening come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless.”

The recording above is performed by the Brisbane Chamber Choir (2011), directed by Graeme Morton.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Living Shells is a peaceful work for high-school-aged and community choirs that exists in multiple voicings – SSA and piano, SAB and piano, SSATB and piano, SSATB a cappella and uniquely, for SAA and handbells choir. Experience the joy and serenity of a stroll along a sun-drenched golden beach and rock pools, and discover all the small creatures that bask in the warmth of the Australian coastline.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Living Shells is a peaceful work for high-school-aged and community choirs that exists in multiple voicings – SSA and piano, SAB and piano, SSATB and piano, SSATB a cappella and uniquely, for SAA and handbells choir. Experience the joy and serenity of a stroll along a sun-drenched golden beach and rock pools, and discover all the small creatures that bask in the warmth of the Australian coastline.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Living Shells is a peaceful work for high-school-aged and community choirs that exists in multiple voicings – SSA and piano, SAB and piano, SSATB and piano, SSATB a cappella and uniquely, for SAA and handbells choir. Experience the joy and serenity of a stroll along a sun-drenched golden beach and rock pools, and discover all the small creatures that bask in the warmth of the Australian coastline.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Living Shells is a peaceful work for high-school-aged and community choirs that exists in multiple voicings – SSA and piano, SAB and piano, SSATB and piano, SSATB a cappella and uniquely, for SAA and handbells choir. Experience the joy and serenity of a stroll along a sun-drenched golden beach and rock pools, and discover all the small creatures that bask in the warmth of the Australian coastline.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Living Shells is a peaceful work for high-school-aged and community choirs that exists in multiple voicings – SSA and piano, SAB and piano, SSATB and piano, SSATB a cappella and uniquely, for SAA and handbells choir. Experience the joy and serenity of a stroll along a sun-drenched golden beach and rock pools, and discover all the small creatures that bask in the warmth of the Australian coastline.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

Combines the text of Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning with two verses of Australian bush poet “Banjo” Paterson’s Sunrise on the Coast. Excellent Christmas piece. This work was commissioned in 1996 by The Harvard University Choir.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Look, There are Dark Hands is an exciting work for medium to advanced high school aged SATB a cappella choirs. From the set of works called “Once on a Mountain”, this award-winning piece was composed for the infamous St Peters Lutheran College Chorale for their first tour of Tasmania, Australia’s most southern state. Here, spectacularly beautiful landscapes are paired with the markings of the original owners of the land through paintings that have survived in hidden caves. This work features some of the first ever inclusions of harmonic-overtone singing in Australian compositions and rapid and complex time signature changes.

Lost the Plot is the fourth piece in a collection of four pieces for treble voices and piano. It is available in both SA + piano, and SSA + piano voicings.

Composer Paul Stanhope writes:

Losing the Plot is a collection of songs for children’s voices and piano with texts by Michael Leunig. They were written as a follow up to my earlier cycle of Leunig pieces called Songs of Innocence and Joy for treble voices and chamber orchestra.

The first of these pieces, Talking to My Shoe was commissioned and premiered by the Sydney Children’s Choir as part of their 15th anniversary in 2004. The remaining three songs in the cycle were commissioned by the Network of Treble Ensembles (NoTE) which includes Brisbane Biralee Voices, Gondwana Voices,Young Adelaide Voices and Young Voices of Melbourne. All the songs in this set are tinged with an exuberant sense of the absurd, but as usual with Leunig’s texts, there are many layers of meaning and often twists in the tale.

The songs are written for upper-primary to high-school aged treble voices mostly in unison and two parts. In two songs—Talking to My Shoe and La–La Land—the choir splits into three parts, but only in a couple of short passages. A more difficult version of this piece also exists with the voices divided into three parts.

Permission should be sought from Penguin Books Australia before re-printing any of the texts.

The recordings are by the Australian Boys Choir conducted by Noel Ancell.

Lost the Plot is the fourth piece in a collection of four pieces by Paul Stanhope. It is available for SSA and piano, as well as SA and piano.

Composer Paul Stanhope writes:

Losing the Plot is a collection of songs for children’s voices and piano with texts by Michael Leunig. They were written as a follow up to my earlier cycle of Leunig pieces called Songs of Innocence and Joy for treble voices and chamber orchestra.

The first of these pieces, Talking to My Shoe was commissioned and premiered by the Sydney Children’s Choir as part of their 15th anniversary in 2004. The remaining three songs in the cycle were commissioned by the Network of Treble Ensembles (NoTE) which includes Brisbane Biralee Voices, Gondwana Voices,Young Adelaide Voices and Young Voices of Melbourne. All the songs in this set are tinged with an exuberant sense of the absurd, but as usual with Leunig’s texts, there are many layers of meaning and often twists in the tale.

The songs are written for upper-primary to high-school aged treble voices mostly in unison and two parts. In two songs—Talking to My Shoe and La–La Land—the choir splits into three parts, but only in a couple of short passages. A more difficult version of this piece also exists with the voices divided into three parts.

Permission should be sought from Penguin Books Australia before re-printing any of the texts.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

This gentle piece expresses the the feelings of Mary as she reflects on the child she has borne. She feels affection for the sweet young babe she holds in her arms. Yet there is also wonderment and awe, as she understands his true nature and grapples with what the future holds for him. These are feelings similar to what any mother would have for her child. A mothers love is a universal theme. It can be understood by people of all faiths and creeds. Therefore, this piece, while sacred, can be sung in secular contexts as well as in services.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

This gentle piece expresses the feelings of Mary as she reflects on the child she has borne. She feels affection for the sweet young babe she holds in her arms. Yet there is also wonderment and awe, as she understands his true nature and grapples with what the future holds for him. These are feelings similar to what any mother would have for her child. A mother’s love is a universal theme. It can be understood by people of all faiths and creeds. Therefore, this piece, while sacred, can be sung in secular contexts as well as in services.

A version of this piece is also available in SATB voicing here.

The recording below is by the University of Queensland Chamber Singers, 2022, conducted by Graeme Morton.

Watch the full score preview video here!

Though written in an advanced idiom, this work was commissioned and first performed by Graeme Morton’s St Peters Chorale, a leading high school choir in Australia. The composer writes, “musically, this work has been much influenced by Renaissance choral music…my aim above all things was to draw upon a tradition of writing that is solemn, richly spiritual but ultimately life-affirming”.

Listen to Lux Aeterna here!

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

Magnificat (Opus 79) was composed over the summer of 2008-2009.  The work is an a cappella setting of the Latin Vulgate text and was written in response to a commission from the Sydney Chamber Choir. Marked ‘Calm and gentle – with flow’ the score carries an inscription from Emily Bronte’s poem of creativity, Last Lines, “No coward soul is mine.” The first performance of Magnificat, was given by the Sydney Chamber Choir conducted by Graham Abbott at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney, 6 September 2009.

Listen now

Duration: approximately 8 minutes

Nunc Dimittis (Opus 89) is sold separately and was written in 2011 in response to a commission from the Brisbane Chamber Choir who had already performed Andrew Schultz’s Magnificat and wanted to have Nunc Dimittis to perform with the earlier work. The setting of the text parallels the dramatic flow of the original text, The Song of Simeon. The work moves from a world of clouded uncertainty through exultation and revelation to a final passage of transcendent simplicity and tranquillity. Marked ‘Flowing’ the Nunc Dimittis is similar to Magnificat in the tempo and meter (3/2) and in the ebb and flow between four and eight part vocal writing.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

The original SATB version of Mater Dolorosa was composed for conductor Jillian McGregor and the Corinthian Singers of Adelaide for a Good Friday concert in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Radford Auditorium in April, 2011. The work was subsequently revised and expanded (SSATBarB) in 2013, and was premiered by Adelaide Chamber Singers – conducted by Carl Crossin – at the Musica Sacra a Roma in Rome, Italy in July 2013. Mater Dolorosa is a setting of the first four stanzas of the 13th century Marian hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa, a much longer poem which expresses Mary’s sorrow as she stood at the foot of the cross witnessing her son’s death by crucifixion.

The recording above features the St Peter’s Chorale, directed by Kathryn Morton.

The second of the Ancient Cries set, this introspective slow work in 5/8 allows a choir to showcase a beautiful tone. The title means “red earth” and evokes the landscape of Australia’s geographical center.

An SSA version is also available here.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Ngana is perhaps the most famous of Leek’s compositions and is sung across the globe. Ngana is a traditional word for shark and the textures and images of this highly energetic work capture the rippling colours of the Great Barrier Reef and all that live in the waters there. The work is voiced for the following – SATB a cappella, SSAA a cappella, SSA a cappella and TTbarB a cappella.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Ngana is perhaps the most famous of Leek’s compositions and is sung across the globe. Ngana is a traditional word for shark and the textures and images of this highly energetic work capture the rippling colours of the Great Barrier Reef and all that live in the waters there. The work is voiced for the following – SATB a cappella, SSAA a cappella, SSA a cappella and TTbarB a cappella.

Ngana (from Songs of Passage) by Australian composer Stephen Leek strikingly captures the driving energies, rhythms and vivid colours of the island seascape that is to be found around the north-eastern tip of Australia. Constructed of simple canonic figurations and ostinatos, Ngana uses as its source an indigenous Australian text which calls to the shark (ngana) and the fish (mangana) and welcomes (yah) them to the translucent blue waters (lina) around the reef. Ngana is the first of five Songs of Passage, each named after a traditional Australian place. These pieces project the choral colours and texture for which Leek has become renowned. Songs of Passage was commissioned in 1994 by the St. Peters Chorale, Brisbane, Australia and its Director, Graeme Morton. Ngana is part of The Australian Voices Series published by Morton Music.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Ngana is perhaps the most famous of Leek’s compositions and is sung across the globe. Ngana is a traditional word for shark and the textures and images of this highly energetic work capture the rippling colours of the Great Barrier Reef and all that live in the waters there. The work is voiced for the following – SATB a cappella, SSAA a cappella, SSA a cappella and TTbarB a cappella.

Pronounced “ungahyulyul” meaning “hawk dreaming”. The text reflects the thoughts of the sheep farmer herding his sheep, ever aware of the hawk circling overhead. The second of Stephen Leek’s Songs of Passage, this is a highly evocative and beautiful composition using easy but effective modern compositional techniques. Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s St Peters Chorale.

**This piece is currently in preparation. For more information, or to purchase a PDF version, please email admin@mortonmusic.com.**

Voted the most unforgettable Australian TV moment, Julia Gillard’s 2012 “misogyny speech” presented in parliament is well-known to all Australians. In this powerful setting, Davidson syncs recorded clips of the work with choral imitation, accompaniment and even commentary (“hear, hear!”).

Typical of his style, Davidson’s text-setting is exceptionally innovative and text is without doubt the structural core of the work. For another example of this style see Davidson’s Finest Hour (setting of a speech by Winston Churchill).

The conductor listens to a click track through earphones (it’s preferable that these are worn discreetly, and should be either in-ear earbuds or, ideally, bone conduction headphones where available, as these leave the ear free to listen). The work may be performed with video or audio; in both cases, the audio track contains the click track on the left channel and the speech on the right channel. The left channel should be sent only to the conductor’s headphones, and the right channel to front-of-house loudspeakers. It’s possible to perform the piece with a very simple speaker setup, such as using a single speaker placed amongst the singers.

Click here to watch the Australian Voices, for whom the work was composed, perform “Not Now, Not Ever!”.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

Nunc Dimittis (Opus 89) was written in 2011 in response to a commission from the Brisbane Chamber Choir who had already performed Andrew Schultz’s Magnificat and wanted to have Nunc Dimittis to perform with the earlier work. The setting of the text parallels the dramatic flow of the original text, The Song of Simeon. The work moves from a world of clouded uncertainty through exultation and revelation to a final passage of transcendent simplicity and tranquillity.  Marked ‘Flowing’ the Nunc Dimittis is similar to Magnificat in the tempo and meter (3/2) and in the ebb and flow between four and eight part vocal writing. The first performance of Nunc Dimittis was given by the Brisbane Chamber Choir conducted by Graeme Morton at St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane, in August 2012.

Listen now

Duration: approximately 5 minutes

Magnificat (Opus 79) sold separately was composed over the summer of 2008-2009. The work is an a cappella setting of the Latin Vulgate text and was written in response to a commission from the Sydney Chamber Choir.  Marked ‘Calm and gentle – with flow’ the score carries an inscription from Emily Bronte’s poem of creativity, Last Lines, “No coward soul is mine.”

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

Suitable for college or church choir. A strophic setting that builds to an exciting climax. Appropriate for Advent or Christmas use.

This setting captures the sense of longing that can be found in the text.

Composer Joe Twist writes,

On The Night Train sets the scene of a train dashing through the Australian bush at dusk, as described by Henry Lawson’s graceful poetry. The emptiness of the Australian outback is represented by long, sustained pitches in the opening and closing sections of the work, above which a simple, folk-like melody is sung. This melody is also used throughout a rhythmic contrasting section where the singers create the impression of a moving train with ‘scat-like’ nonsense syllables and whispered vocal effects.

An Australian interpretation of a traditional English folksong. Appropriate for various groups but particularly suitable for women’s voices. SSAA unaccompanied.

The demonstration recording is:
Once I Had A Sweetheart, trad. arranged Mark Puddy: Perth Modern School (Western Australia) Schola Cantori, 2006.

Part Needle, Part Thread was composed in 2020 for the Adelaide Chamber Singers, though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was unable to be performed at the World Choir Games in Belgium as intended. It was later video recorded by the Adelaide Chamber Choir for online release.

The text by Ann Nadge explores the delicate connection between love and time, describing that connection as an entity, a process and a protection against emotional darkness. Carl Crossin, effortlessly weaves the voices between each other, painting the metaphor of needle and thread before time seemingly stops in the dramatic B section. Listen below.

Australia’s most iconic choral work to date, and featured on the Hollywood film Boychoir. This version is for SA divisi choir a cappella. There is also a treble voice version of the score for choir and an accompaniment for cello only.

Commissioned (in the SATB version) for Graeme Morton’s high school choir, the work can be performed by choirs of modest training, and yet has made it all the way to Chanticleer, and other professional groups, such is its broad appeal.

Accompaniment available for Full Orchestra or Concert Band, String Orchestra or Cello Ensemble.

Recording by The American Boychoir · Fernando Malvar-Ruiz · Sarah Hopkins

Australia’s most iconic choral work to date, and featured on the Hollywood film Boychoir. This version is for SATB divisi choir a cappella. MM2003 is a treble version and MM2004 uses the treble voice version of the score for choir and an accompaniment for celli only.

The work distinctively features Harmonic Overtone Singing. A rehearsal guide to Past Life Melodies, also available through Morton Music, shows you how to teach this technique to your choir.

Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s high school choir, the work can be performed by choirs of modest training, and yet has made it all the way to Chanticleer, and other professional groups, such is its broad appeal.

Accompaniment available for Full Orchestra or Concert Band, String Orchestra or Cello Ensemble.

New to Morton Music – digital copies are now available from RSCM Music Direct (UK) via the Other Countries link.

This well-loved text, often referred to as the “Shepherd’s Psalm” offers the promise of comfort and solace in times of turmoil and distress. It is often paraphrased and sung as a hymn or sung in chant.

Here Australian composer John Nickson’s setting is more in the form of an unaccompanied motet, suitable for choral performance within liturgical or concert settings.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Queenscliff is a popular song for more advanced primary-aged choir with words written by the students of the Eltham East Primary School Choir. Experience the ferry journey across the bay as the wind howls and the seas swell. The work is voiced for SA and piano.

A highly imaginative choral piece for SSAA choir and piano. In it a young child who lives in the dry central Australian outback and has never seen rain dreams of what it would be like to be in a thunderstorm. The work eventually becomes a sort of rain dance with chanting of “Wandjina”, an Australian Aboriginal rain spirit.

Recording by Gondwana Voices, January 2013 at Verbrugghen Hall (Conservatorium of Music in Sydney).

The first of the Ancient Cries set; Rainbird begins with a dramatic and evocative piano introduction and includes some Australian aboriginal words as well as aleatoric sounds.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Rainstorm from Reef Songs is suitable for SSATB and percussion.

New Release – One of Stephen Leek’s exclusive digital releases directly through Morton Music – email admin@mortonmusic.com for details.

Suitable for SAB and piano, Raintree was written for the students of the school whilst the composer was In Residence. Hanging heavily over The Cathedral School of St Anne and St James in Townsville, Australia, a gigantic raintree spreads its tentacles offering shade from the searing heat. The limbs of the trees are so large and heavy that they are supported by timber structures that piece the bitumen of the playground.