OUP Women Composers Orchestral, Opera, Chamber, Instrumental and Choral Catalogue

Cecilia McDowall Ave

Cecilia McDowall Ave maris stella SATB and string orchestra or keyboard Vocal score 9780193359499 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193362277 Vocal score on hire 9780193376748 This beautiful and moving piece in seven sections combines text from the Ave maris stella antiphon and Psalms 26 and 106. Starting and finishing in a mood of peace and certainty, the work is structured around a turbulent middle section anticipating the gathering storm. 12 minutes Da Vinci Requiem Soprano solo, baritone solo, SATB, and orchestra Vocal score 9780193519022 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193528697 Vocal score on hire 9780193530195 This significant seven-movement work from Cecilia McDowall presents an imaginative pairing of extracts from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci with texts from the Latin Missa pro defunctis. Da Vinci’s reflective and penetrating insights into the nature of mortality and all that it encompasses cast new light on the familiar Requiem texts, and McDowall employs her orchestral forces to create a rich, atmospheric backdrop to the profound narrative presented by the chorus and soprano and baritone soloists. Dark, sonorous writing precedes an energetic ‘Sanctus’, and the closing bars of the luminous ‘Lux aeterna’ create a powerful allusion to da Vinci’s concept of ‘The Perspective of Disappearance’. 35 minutes Magnificat SATB, soprano solo, mezzo-soprano solo, and chamber orchestra or piano 2 ob (I+ca), bn, str Vocal score 9780193359482 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193364820 Vocal score on hire 9780193376786 McDowall has skilfully united luscious harmonies with fresh melodies and crisp rhythms in this vibrant work. Divided into six movements, Magnificat is ideal for SATB choirs seeking fresh and inspiring new sacred repertoire suitable for concert use. 28 minutes Choral Works Sacred Missa Mariae SSA and organ Vocal score 9780193417540 Digital 9780193537200 This concise Latin mass setting is entirely suitable for liturgical use, but the sharply delineated characters of the different movements make it also an appealing concert work. The organ part is supportive, but full of interest and not merely accompanimental. Particularly memorable are the Gloria, with its constantly shifting time-signatures, and the haunting Agnus Dei. 11 minutes Some corner of a foreign field Tenor solo, SATB (with divisions), strings, and harp Vocal score 9780193404540 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193404526 Vocal material on hire 9780193411517 Written as part of McDowall’s tenure as composer in residence at Dulwich College, Some corner of a foreign field was commissioned to mark the centenary of the First World War. A profoundly moving cantata, it draws on biblical texts associated with the acclaimed pupil of Dulwich College, Sir Ernest Shackleton, his 1916 Antarctic Expedition, and Rupert Brooke. This beautiful work, with its lustrous harmonies and its poignant tenor solo, offers choirs an immensely rewarding experience. 18 minutes Stabat Mater Baritone solo, SATB, children’s choir or semi-chorus, and small orchestra or keyboard fl, cl, bn, 2 hn, hp, str Vocal score 9780193400498 Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193401501 Vocal score on hire 9780193401518 McDowall’s setting of the Stabat Mater comprises seven movements in a symmetrical structure. A plaintive meditation on the sorrows of the Virgin Mary as she stands by the Cross, McDowall’s Stabat Mater is a sophisticated modern alternative to more well-known settings. 30 minutes 46

Choral Leaflets/Octavos Sacred Adoro te devote SSATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193408272 Setting part of a Eucharistic hymn text by Thomas Aquinas, this piece is flowing and expressive. It features homophonic sections, melismatic lines, and optional soaring soprano solos. Adoro te devote is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Nepalese Earthquake in 2015. 4 minutes Alma Redemptoris Mater SSATBB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193378339 This is a beautiful six-part unaccompanied Marian motet written for the Marian Consort. The work combines reminiscences of Renaissance settings of this text with McDowall’s distinctive contemporary voice. 4.5 minutes Aurea luce SATB (with divisions) and organ Vocal score 9780193378063 Commissioned and first performed by the choir of Liverpool Cathedral, this anthem is ideal for use during the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The choral lines move between sonorous homophonic writing and vibrant imitative passages, and are underpinned by a repeated quaver motif in the organ, combining a sense of joy with moments of reflection. 4.5 minutes Ave Maria SSA unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193355569 Digital 9780193535770 This is the second and most intimate of the composer’s Three Latin Motets. Scored for upper voices, this gentle supplication to the Virgin is built on a plainchant opening, and contains expressive dissonances and suspensions in a setting of great purity and directness. 2 minutes Cecilia McDowall Ash Wednesday SATB and organ Vocal score 9780193524200 Digital 9780193538528 Ash Wednesday sets typically fervent verses by Christina Rossetti. The vocal lines are mostly simple and affecting, with some highly individual harmonies, while the organ part is by turns expressive and showy. 5 minutes Ave Regina SSATB unaccompanied Vocal score 9780193355576 The first of Three Latin Motets, ‘Ave Regina’ is a gentle and lyrical setting of the text ‘Hail, Queen of the Heavens’. The calm and memorable opening phrase is hinted at in passages of more intensity, and its partial statement at the end leaves it lingering after the voices have faded away. 2 minutes Bless to me this day SSA or SATB and piano or organ SSA Vocal score 9780193386211 SSA Digital 9780193535879 SATB Digital † 9780193545434 Bless to me this day is a tranquil setting of ‘The Journey Prayer’ from the Celtic compendium Carmina Gadelica. The sense of prescient optimism is captured in the flowing piano part, while the simplicity of the vocal lines enables the text to be imparted with warmth and sincerity. 4 minutes 47