Voicing: Mixed Voices

A wonderfully uplifting piece with solos throughout, We Are The Future is highly recommended for youth choir. With text adapted from year 8, Brighton Secondary Student, Paris Maddern’s poem “The Future”, this joyous piece for SATB or SSA choir carries a strong, youthful voice and sings of their hope for the future, and their role in it.

“And I cry at the glowing blaze of disaster in this world

Yearning to reshape it, let goodness be unfurled

Perhaps I am not good enough

Perhaps my strength exceeds me,

The world will see me.”

“We Are The Future” is also available in SSA voicing.

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

A wonderful piece which welcomes “the glorious blessing of light” asking us to “pour out our darkness into the glorious forgiving light”. Would suit a good college or church choir. It could also be used as an Epiphany anthem with a difference, since Epiphany appears in the middle of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The recording is track number 08, from The Australian Voices’ CD, “The Listening Land”. Conducted by Graeme Morton.

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

Winchester Service – Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

These canticles, suited for mixed voices and organ, premiered on May 6 2023 in the Winchester Cathedral. Joseph Twist comments, “It fascinates me that the words of the Magnificat were considered by some to be so radical that they were banned in some parts of the world. Believed to be the words of Mary, phrases like “filled the hungry,” “exalted the humble and meek” and “the rich sent empty away” resonate with me, and I believe they resonate with many people today just as they have for centuries, despite the bans. There is also a great sense of storytelling to the text, as these phrases take us from one idea to the next, ultimately offering a sense of peace and contentment, then reaffirmed by the uplifting words of the Nunc Dimittis. I’ve endeavoured to convey this story with music that rises and falls, contrasted by more static choral sonorities and underpinned by a gentle perpetuum mobile organ accompaniment. At the conclusion of each canticle, “Amen” takes us to a place that is vast, peaceful, and celestial. It is my hope that these canticles may offer a uniquely Australian response to a text that has echoed throughout churches and cathedrals for centuries.

Winchester Cathedral Choir Recording of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis – Conducted by Andrew Lumsden and Organist Claudi Grinnell

Magnificat:

Nunc Dimittis:

This piece for choir, piano and flute paints a cloudless winter night – the piano and flute adding a crisp clarity to the atmosphere. A lovely piece for secondary choir, and a great addition to your concert programme.

“Winter Stars” is also available in SSAA voicing.