Voicing: Mixed Voices

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.

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

**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.

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 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.

A  short song by Sarah Hopkins in a vibrant, joyful style. This is a combined score that can be used by either treble or mixed voices. The work divides into seven parts but many parts use sustained single tones so a choir of reasonable ability can perform the work. SA or SATB a cappella (or accompanied by any treble ensemble).

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carl Crossin writes that the brief given to him in the commission of this work was that the song be “uplifting and life affirming” – and that it certainly is. A wonderful piece for secondary choir.

“Rise” is also available for SSAA voicing.

This new piece, using text from Herry Lawson and Stephen Cronin, is also available as Double Choir.

This new piece, using text from Herry Lawson and Stephen Cronin, is also available as SATB

A four-part arrangement for treble voices of the traditional American folk song that concludes with the most magical and ethereal sounds!

Also available in SSAA voicing

Sing Out! was commissioned for Australian Society of Music Education Conference 2005 as the opening massed work. It is a short, fun, rhythmic piece to be sung ‘with joy’.

NOW AVAILABLE

Written after Perth’s first lockdown due to Covid-19, this simple yet lush setting of Coleridge’s poetry expresses a first glimpse of hope and return to normality. Both an expressive longing and a gentle dreaming to be with someone far away resonates through the harmony and melodic gestures.

A robust arrangement which includes two versions of an Australian sea shanty. The composer also sanctions a cappella performances.

Another in the Songs of Passage set, “tabulam” means “my home”. This song captures the energy and life of music-making from the north of Australia where part-singing is joyous, spontaneous and often improvised. The writing is lush, rich and repetitive. Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s St Peters Chorale.

This piece is currently in preparation. For more information please contact admin@mortonmusic.com

This recording of The Earth’s Prayer is sung by Lumens and directed by Kathryn Morton. Despite beautiful, moving harmonies throughout, it is the text that shines through in this piece.

Text by Sally Clarke:

Our Mother, whose Paradise is our Haven, 

Hallowed be thy top soil. 

Thy splendour, thy splendour, thy splendour be replenished, 

thy nurture be reciprocated on Land as it is in Sea/Sky/Mountain Range. 

Give us this day our daily mindfulness, 

forgive us our fossil fuel obsession as we forgive those who manipulate against us. 

Lead us back into balance and deliver us from separation, 

for thine is the Wonder of Biodiversity, the renewable power and the shared, sustainable glory. 

Now and forever. Amen! 

The Parting Glass is essentially an arrangement of a traditional Irish melody and has an alternative 2nd verse. The recording by the Adelaide Chamber Singers, was conducted by Carl Crossin in 2021.

This poignant piece, written for the Seymour College Chamber Singers, is based on the poem by the same name by Robert Frost. The text tells of a traveller who comes across a fork in the road and decides to take the road less travelled – a moving reflection on life’s decisions. Composer Carl Crossin’s decision to include violin adds a further element of emotion to an already very stirring piece. Highly recommended, particularly for youth choirs.

A lyrical and charming Australian folksong set for SATB choir and piano. This is a simple arrangement that brings out the grace and charm of the melody. The score gives and explanation of all the Australian slang in the song, arising as it does from the Australian colonial period and the vast sheep-raising properties that were characteristic of this history.

This song makes a great contrast with Bullocky-O, also arranged by Graeme Morton.

This wonderful piece portrays three phases of the day: Sunrise, emerging in the stillness of the dawn, Birds, reflecting the vitality of the noonday, and the vibrant bird calls in the “Australian) bush, and Sunset, where the conclusion to the set of songs is a slow chordal diminuendo as the sun sets. Each movement can be performed separately.

Watch the full score preview video here.

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

Three Christmas Spirituals includes the following pieces and is for an accompanied SATB choir; also available for treble voices.

Go Tell it on the Mountain;

There’s a Star in the East; and

The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy

These three simple arrangements of some of the best-loved Spirituals are suitable for youthful voices of all ages. While specific to the Christmas Season, the narrative element in these texts make them appropriate for church or concert performance throughout the year.

NOW AVAILABLE

These three motets are settings of hymn texts by the influential theologian and writer, Thomas Aquinas. O Salutaris Hostia (O Saving Victim), Panis Angelicus (Bread Of Angels), and Tantum Ergo (Hence So Great A Sacrament) each pertain to the Eucharist – a central aspect of Christianity. The chant melodies of these texts are layered with other material (both derived from the tune, and freely written) in a similar fashion between each piece to create linked, but unique modern textures. Each uses predominately the same pitches, but with different use of modality originating from each chant theme producing different colours in the sound world.

This set is a part of the Sacre Australis series.

Listen below for recordings of Three Eucharistic Motets by Joshua Adams

O Salutaris Hostia:

Panis Angelicus:

Tantum Ergo:

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

This “Victoria Triptych” was written in 2011, the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Spanish polyphonist, Thomas Luis de Victoria. For unaccompanied SATB choir, and with divided parts, these wonderful Latin motets remind us that the great motet tradition is still vibrant and flourishing. The individual titles are:

Versa est in Luctum

Lamentation of Jeremiah

Hombres, Victoria, Victoria!

Click the links above for score previews and recordings of each movement. Recordings feature the choir of St James King Street, Sydney (one of three commissioning choirs).

“Tunggare” means “voice” or “to sing” in an Indigenous Australian dialect. This is a wonderful opening or closing to a concert. There is much repetition and very easy tenor and bass parts, so it is perfect for a high school choir (and other choirs as well!). It may also be used as a choral piece for audience participation.

Listen to Tunggare here!

These two songs are unusual, fresh and vivid. They resonate with ideas drawn from several religious philosophies. The composer sanctions performances within the context of Christian worship as well as any philosophic tradition which values the soul. Includes harmonic overtone singing.

The individual parts are very simple and a large and sonorous ensemble is preferred. Mixed voices a cappella.

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

“Where charity and love are, God is there.”

Composer Joseph Twist writes…

A commemoration of Jesus Christ for Holy Thursday, for me, the Ubi Caritas has a few significant dimensions; the warmth of Christ’s love, the adoration and mystery of the holy spirit, and the idea of an ‘inclusive, universal’ celebration. Accordingly, my Ubi Caritas reflects this through contrasts in harmonic language, at times chromatic or mysterious, at other times diatonic or pentatonic, reflecting Christ’s love, as well as the influence of modal harmony from Eastern Europe and Africa. Similarly, contrasts in rhythm and texture are incorporated. The calm, sparse music which bookends the work is countered with rhythmic, syncopated music in a kind of ritualistic exultation.

A slow meditative work. A beautiful imaginative piece that stands among the best.

Number one of Twist’s “Victoria Triptych”. My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of those who weep. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing (trans. Miguel Iglesias)

Available in the set of Three Motets after Victoria, linked here – not available singly.

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

Orlovich has a keen ear for the way different texts resonate with each other. This piece uses the traditional Latin text Dulcis Jesu Memoria and Victor Carrell’s Voice of the River which draws on a series of images which address “love” as it is found in some of its myriad manifestations. Commissioned by Graeme Morton’s St Peters Chorale and suitable for a good high school or college choir. It could also be used in church situations as an anthem.

Wake Up! is a rhythmic and energetic piece that re-imagines the choir ensemble as a contemporary band. Amongst the global frenzy of contemporary culture, hip-hop and urban music has become the ‘folk music’ that resonates strongly with our current generation. This piece captures the vibrancy of those rhythms and melodies through the imitation of driving hip-hop beats and vociferous rap vocal.

A masterly and unique arrangement of Australia’s favourite song.

A fresh take on an Aussie classic.