Gabriel Jackson Catalogue

Choral Works Secular
According to Seneca
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193379756
According to Seneca is a substantial work for
unaccompanied choir setting a poem of the same name
by the American poet Gustaf Sobin. Jackson effectively
intersperses sonorous polyphonic passages for full choir
with spoken text and murmuring ostinato motifs in free
time.
10 minutes
Airplane Cantata
SATB and pianola
Scores and pianola piano roll on hire 9780193382688
Using texts from a variety of sources (poems, eye witness
accounts, musings, and factual statements), this unique
work is a true celebration of the pioneering years of
aviation. The pianola, with its almost limitless capabilities,
creates a flurry of multi-textured layers which weave
around the choral parts to create complex rhythmical
patterns, typical of Jackson’s compositional style.
15 minutes
Cantus Maris Baltici
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193377530
Jackson’s Cantus Maris Baltici (‘Songs of the Baltic Sea’) is
a rich and imaginative setting of poems from each of the
three Baltic countries. It displays innovative choral textures
and is a rewarding work for any advanced choir. It was
commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain
and premiered in California in the summer of 2009.
10 minutes
Choral Works Secular
Choral Symphony
24-part unaccompanied SATB
Vocal scores on hire 9780193394681
A choral celebration of London, written for The BBC
Singers, Choral Symphony explores all sides of this city,
from the grandiose architecture and the bustling life
of Fleet Street, to the darker aspects of today’s poorer
neighbourhoods. Jackson takes his texts from a wide range
of poets, from Oscar Wilde to contemporary street rapper,
George the Poet.
Exile Meditations
SATB soloists or choir unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193521933
This powerful work is a sequence of meditations on loss
and longing, of fear and of hope, by turns contemplative
and dramatic. The narrative is made up of a selection
of poems by four exiled Latvian writers from the group
known as the Hell’s Kitchen Poets and present-day
displaced persons from Palestine and Syria. The text is in
Latvian and English, and a pronunciation guide for the
Latvian text is included in the vocal score. Jackson also
employs percussion for dramatic effect, with three singers
required to play brake drum, railway man’s whistle, and
claves. With all of the trademarks of Jackson’s compelling
musical style, this piece will be an exciting challenge for
choirs looking to explore universal themes.
29 minutes
In Nomine Domini
SATB and ensemble
perc, hp, str quartet
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193373556
This work is a setting of a wonderfully mysterious poem by
John Bradburne, ‘In Nomine’. The choir is accompanied by
harp and percussion, apart from one heightened moment
of ‘ecstasy’ when all forces sing/play together. Interpolated
in the piece are four ‘In nomines’ for string quartet alone.
10 minutes
La musique
Solo soprano and SATB unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193395725
Ever-changing in mood and pace, La Musique is a setting
of poems by Elizabeth Bishop and Charles Baudelaire on
the transformative power of music. Jackson musically
represents the complex psychological shifts contained in
the texts’ powerful metaphors through alternating fully
notated and indeterminate passages in different keys and
tempi. The resulting effect makes this piece a fascinating
musical journey to the depths of the human soul.
10 minutes
Nightingale Fragments
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193512061
Digital 9780193537804
The text for this vibrant part-song is a deftly chosen
selection of lines from Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’.
Jackson’s setting features many of the composer’s stylistic
hallmarks: glissandi, decorative melismas, aleatoric
patterns, and solo lines that float above the texture.
10 minutes
Not no faceless Angel
SATB, cello, and flute
Vocal score 9780193365995
Cello part 9780193412514
Not no faceless Angel is a beautifully reflective work. The
work is a sensitive setting of words by Tanya Lake with
themes of loss and love articulated through expressive
melodic lines and touching imagery. A recording by
Polyphony and Stephen Layton is available on Hyperion
CDA67708.
9 minutes
Rigwreck
SATB (with multiple divisions: 6, 3, 3, 3)
unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193397828
Rigwreck sets a text by poet Pierre Joris on the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Frequent
vocal divisions into multiple parts, a wide range of
dynamic expression, spoken lines, and powerful wordpainting
highlight the poem’s emphasis on humanity’s
responsibility for the natural world.
15 minutes
Ruchill Linn
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193379749
Ruchill Linn sets a text by the Perthshire poet Robin Bell.
‘Linn’ means waterfall and the poem meditates on a still
spring evening at dusk. The piece is illustrative, with
aqueous, tumbling vocal figuration, and plaintive bird
song.
9 minutes
Spring Rounds
Solo soprano, SATB and orchestra
picc, fl, ob, c.a., cl, b. cl, bsn, contra bsn, 4hn, 2tpt, tba, perc
(1 player), str
Vocal score 9780193418967
Vocal score on hire 9780193408203
Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193410787
Described by Latvian newspaper Diena as ‘the most
carefully developed orchestral party’, Spring Rounds is
a significant work that is rich in variety and orchestral
colours. Jackson has selected texts by a multiplicity of
authors, from the seventeenth-century poet Thomas Carew
to contemporary writer Billy Collins, to create a profound
and interesting reflection on the titular season.
30 minutes
Three Shakespeare Songs
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193413474
This setting of texts from Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice,
and Sonnet 98, is characterized by inventive textures and
vibrant word-setting. The harmonic language is for the
most part diatonic, but never plain, and there are some
pungent dissonances, as the contrasts between and within
the texts are laid bare in music of evocative power.
8 minutes
The World Imagined
Solo tenor, SATB (with divisions), and orchestra
picc. 2fl, 2ob, c.a., 2cl, bass cl, 2bsn, contrabsn, 4hn, 3tpt, 2tbn,
bass tbn, tba, perc(3 players), hp, str
Vocal score 9780193540200
Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193543652
The World Imagined explores themes around the smallness
of man, the apprehension of the divine in everything
around us, and our ecstatic communion within that
vastness. The powerfully evocative texts invite deep
spiritual contemplation, and are drawn from diverse
sources ranging from an early Latin hymn by St Ambrose to
contemporary poems by Doris Kareva and Kenneth White.
NB: This work can be performed in a secular or sacred
context. Movement 4 contains some short Latin text of St
Ambrose.
43 minutes
Choral Works Secular
24 minutes
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