The world premiere recording of brand new Christmas choral works from Patrick Hawes.

Patrick has teamed up with the excellent Voce Chamber Choir of Connecticut to create an album of twenty brand-new Christmas choral works.  Specially written for the choir, the first collection and album title, sets words by Patrick’s poet brother Andrew.  The Nativity, for unaccompanied choir, moves through the Christmas nativity scene exploring the drama of this momentous moment in human history.  For the second collection, Patrick has set Four Christmas Motets;  the fragile ancient poetry giving rise to tender and heartfelt music for unaccompanied choir.  The album goes on to explore the Christmas story through various texts, old and new, in works that are set to become extremely popular with choirs around the world.

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“Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year and it has been a joy to set such inspiring and dramatic words to music.  The variety of texts – from ancient to modern – are all so relevant for today because they speak of eternal truths and the mystery of the Christmas story.  I am thrilled with how Voce and their director Mark Singleton have brought a freshness of approach and musical excellence to their interpretation of this exciting project.” Patrick Hawes

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“This album is the fruit of an extraordinary partnership between composer, conductor, and choir.  Composer Patrick Hawes created a collection of sublime works with Voce in mind, and our collaboration with him during the recording sessions was a source of great joy for all involved.  Working closely together, we endeavored to capture the vibrancy and tenderness of Patrick’s compositions, as well as the magical texts crafted by Patrick’s brother Andrew.  We offer this album in tribute to Patrick Hawes and his continuing contribution of choral works celebrated throughout the world.” Mark Singleton

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The Fire of Love

I am extremely grateful to my brother Andrew for adapting the writings of Richard Rolle into these six choral ‘songs’.  As well as capturing a deep and passionate spiritual journey, they possess alluring pictorial qualities and flowing poetic lines which make them ideal for rich and varied choral treatment.  Rolle believed that there are three phases of the soul’s movement towards God – heat, sweetness and song.  This Fire aims to create a sense of purifying fire being kindled in the human soul while This is the Love recognises the fire as a ‘shining’, enlightening love.  Eternal Praises is an expression of that joy which sweetness brings once the mind has become changed through heat.  In Paradise speaks of a quieter, more peaceful ecstasy.  The final two movements rejoice in the gift of song.  The Angel’s Praise becomes almost breathless in its desire to “sing all that before I said”.  Endless Love is essentially a chorale which unfolds into an eternal “ghostly symphony”.  The soul has moved towards its maker and, now that it is renewed, desires nothing more than to glorify God through song.  – Patrick Hawes

Songs of Innocence

This setting of nine of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence for choir and piano is testament to my long affinity with the poems.  Given the public’s renewed interest in Blake’s work, I feel this is now the perfect time for their release.  The fragile poetry gives rise to a tender and heartfelt musical style heard from the outset in Introduction. Here, Blake sees himself as a piper and his poetry as melody and song.  He becomes deeply moved and inspired by the vision of a child who urges him to sing and then write about innocent things which “every child may joy to hear.”  The choir and piano alternate in a gentle and evocative interpretation of The Shepherd before dancing rhythms and figurations suggest children at play in The Echoing Green.  In The Lamb the piano is dispensed with, giving way to simple four-part harmony together with high-voice solos.  The tranquility is broken by the urgent calls of The Little Boy Lost and Found as a rolling piano accompaniment underpins a tale of fear and despair where the little boy eventually finds repose in the arms of a compassionate Father.  The exquisite text of A Cradle Song inspires a warm lullaby with the solo soprano conveying a deep maternal love.  The Divine Image aspires to create an angelic world where Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love become personified and offer sweet caresses to the listener.  A Dream brings a period of light relief, with its playful tale of a beetle and a glow-worm, before the rich sonorities and floating melodies of On Another’s Sorrow bring the collection to a close.  “Till our grief is fled and gone,” the choir sings as the piano descends into deep harmony, and we are left with an image of a God who is unable to stand passively by but can only “sit by us and moan.” – Patrick Hawes

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The following text is taken from Patrick’s sleeve notes for The Great War Symphony:

The post The Great War Symphony CD appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

The Great War Symphony is an epic new work for choirs, soloists and orchestra in aid of SSAFA to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.  The symphony comprises four movements, each portraying the most significant events in each year of the war (1914-15, 1915-16 and so on) and mourns the dead, salutes their sacrifice and evokes a vision of England that inspired so much of the art and music of that time.

The complete work has been recorded at Abbey Road for release in September 2018 and will receive its World Premiere in London’s Royal Albert Hall on 9th October 2018 in partnership with Classic FM as part of the national commemorations to mark the end of the centenary.

• Vocal Score
• Full Score
• Orchestral Parts (available on hire)
• Military Band Full Score and Parts (available on hire)

The post The Great War Symphony Rehearsal CD (Bass) appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

The Great War Symphony is an epic new work for choirs, soloists and orchestra in aid of SSAFA to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.  The symphony comprises four movements, each portraying the most significant events in each year of the war (1914-15, 1915-16 and so on) and mourns the dead, salutes their sacrifice and evokes a vision of England that inspired so much of the art and music of that time.

The complete work has been recorded at Abbey Road for release in September 2018 and will receive its World Premiere in London’s Royal Albert Hall on 9th October 2018 in partnership with Classic FM as part of the national commemorations to mark the end of the centenary.

• Vocal Score
• Full Score
• Orchestral Parts (available on hire)
• Military Band Full Score and Parts (available on hire)

The post The Great War Symphony Rehearsal CD (Tenor) appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

The Great War Symphony is an epic new work for choirs, soloists and orchestra in aid of SSAFA to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.  The symphony comprises four movements, each portraying the most significant events in each year of the war (1914-15, 1915-16 and so on) and mourns the dead, salutes their sacrifice and evokes a vision of England that inspired so much of the art and music of that time.

The complete work has been recorded at Abbey Road for release in September 2018 and will receive its World Premiere in London’s Royal Albert Hall on 9th October 2018 in partnership with Classic FM as part of the national commemorations to mark the end of the centenary.

• Vocal Score
• Full Score
• Orchestral Parts (available on hire)
• Military Band Full Score and Parts (available on hire)

The post The Great War Symphony Rehearsal CD (Alto) appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

The Great War Symphony is an epic new work for choirs, soloists and orchestra in aid of SSAFA to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.  The symphony comprises four movements, each portraying the most significant events in each year of the war (1914-15, 1915-16 and so on) and mourns the dead, salutes their sacrifice and evokes a vision of England that inspired so much of the art and music of that time.

The complete work has been recorded at Abbey Road for release in September 2018 and will receive its World Premiere in London’s Royal Albert Hall on 9th October 2018 in partnership with Classic FM as part of the national commemorations to mark the end of the centenary.

• Vocal Score
• Full Score
• Orchestral Parts (available on hire)
• Military Band Full Score and Parts (available on hire)

The post The Great War Symphony Rehearsal CD (Soprano) appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

The following text is taken from Patrick’s sleeve notes for the Revelation album:

The post Revelation CD appeared first on Hawes Music Publishing.

“I have always been fascinated by angels. For as long as I can remember, the image of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Mary has filled me with comfort and light and sustains me now, as an adult, as much as it filled me with awe as a child.  That event marked the beginning of the Christian faith – a faith which has come to pervade my life and give true meaning to my work as a composer.  I have never seen an angel and yet my awareness of the presence of angels has grown increasingly strong over the past few years.  I never consciously set out to write an album on this subject; rather the album presented itself to me.  Musical themes flowed through my psyche and ‘coincidences’ occurred whereby I was being constantly reminded of angels.  We ended up recording, for instance, in two venues – St Michael and All Angels, Summertown and Angel Studios in Islington. And while I was writing the Archangel Suite, each of the four angels became real to me, particularly in terms of colour: Raphael, for instance, generated purple and deep reds while Gabriel was shrouded in pastel blues and greens.  The centenary of the First World War made me aware of the apparition of The Angel of Mons, and this event (when over a hundred British soldiers claim to have seen the vision of an angel in the first battle of the war) is one of the main sources of inspiration behind the music.  Through writing the choral work The Angel of Mons I have come to realise that I have my own guardian angel and that, without the protective presence of Michael and the heavenly host, we would never enjoy the many blessings that envelop us.  I feel extremely fortunate and humbled that I am able to convey my awareness of such phenomena through the medium of my music.  As a result of writing this music, I feel closer to the angels than ever before and it is my deepest wish that those who listen to it will be enriched and ennobled in a similar way.”

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There are many variations of the Propers for a requiem, and composers have used various configurations to serve their own creative ends.  The text of the Lazarus Requiem follows that used by Fauré very closely – except at the very end where the traditional reference to Dives and Lazarus has been omitted (as this refers to a different Lazarus.)  Fauré’s Requiem selects all the texts that point to heaven and the hope of the resurrection.  In the same way, the Lazarus Requiememphasises the victory of Christ over death, but does not evade the pain and confusion that death leaves in its wake.  The eleventh chapter of St. John’s Gospel figures heavily in the funeral rites of the reformed tradition, stressing the need for the personal recognition of Jesus as ‘the resurrection and the life’.  In this way, the Lazarus Requiem opens up a truly catholic perspective on the Christian experience of death and dying.

There are various examples of the liturgical sequence of the requiem being used as a framework to carry other texts: Britten’s War Requiem is one English example.  In the Lazarus Requiem the text, with the exception of one original poem, is from the New Testament.  In this way, the liturgical text and the scripture throw light upon one another and so illuminate the hearts and minds of all those who perform and listen in a ‘double light’.  It is possible both to extract the Latin texts and use them as a liturgical setting, or to extract the narrative of the Gospel and perform a dramatic cantata.  Many of the ‘movements’ also stand alone for concert or liturgical performance.

The work begins with an orchestral Elegy for Lazarus which depicts the dying man and sets the scene for the first tableau.  The sound worlds of the tableaux and the Latin movements are quite different.  The Requiem Aeternam, Kyrie, Sanctusetc. use the full resources of both choir and orchestra whereas the tableaux, as well as using semi-chorus, are characterised by muted strings, harp and baritone saxophone.  Christ’s solos see the addition of the four horns.  There are moments when the two sound worlds become superimposed.  Most notably, the Benedictus takes the form of a soprano solo sung by Mary and, at the climax of the miracle when Christ exclaims, “Unbind him!  Loose him!  Let him go!” the mutes are removed from the strings, and the full orchestra interject with the concluding section of this tableau.  The final movement of the work is the Lux Aeterna, for choir and orchestra, together with the two female soloists.

Andrew & Patrick Hawes

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