Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs

The Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs is the perfect resource for secular choirs and singing groups who like the flexibility to perform songs in a range of combinations from unison to SATB. Each piece may be performed by a mixed choir, but is also presented with flexible scoring options, clearly explained throughout, enabling performance by various combinations of singers, including upper voices or men's voices alone. As well as new arrangements of existing repertoire, the collection also features newly commissioned original works, specially written for flexible forces.

Flow my tears John

Flow my tears John Dowland 74 Four Bird Songs Alan Bullard 81 It was a lover and his lass Thomas Morley 95 My Boy Jack Alison Willis 106 O’er the Waves Let Us Go (Leis an Lurgainn) Trad. Hebridean 119 Sumer is icumen in Anon. 13th cent. 145 The Water Mill Ralph Vaughan Williams 173 Three Shakespeare Songs Alan Bullard 196 To Music (An die Musik) Franz Schubert 215 Tread Softly Alan Bullard 225 Encores Celebrate! Alan Bullard 34 Cherry ripe Charles Edward Horn 36 Eletelephony Ben Parry 65 La, la, la Pierre Certon 100 Pase el agoa (Cross the water) Anon. 16th cent. 126 The Robin Alan Bullard 86 The Truth is Great Bob Chilcott 182 The Way of Peace (Kayra Sillo) Trad. West African 186 Two Songs of Quisqueya Trad. Dominican Republic 234 Where did you get that hat? James Rolmaz 254 for online perusal only xi

Notes about the Songs Alan Bullard: A Bell-Chime Echoing bells joyously sing the praise of music in this canonic setting of anonymous inscriptions on church bells from central and southern England. John Rutter: A flower remembered At the request of the choral organization Harmony for Japan, ‘A flower remembered’ was written in memory of the victims of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and resultant nuclear accident of March 2011. John Rutter’s original text was inspired by traditional Japanese poetry, linking images of nature to the idea of human remembrance. for online perusal only Edvard Grieg: A Swan (En svane) ‘A Swan’ is one of the best-known of Grieg’s solo songs, here arranged for chorus. It was written for his wife Nina Hagerup, a professional singer, and is a setting of a text by his fellow countryman and friend Henrik Ibsen. The words refer to the long-held belief that swans only sing as their death approaches. Will Todd: All will be well Written for a London concert fundraising for Cancer Research UK, Will Todd’s song touches the heart with its simple but memorably poignant melody and texture, with optional percussion providing an evocative background. Stephen Hatfield: As She Goes This reflective and inspirational song has a melody based on the vowels from the name of the dedicatee, Eileen Catherine Murphy, which become ‘re, mi, re, re, la, re, mi, re, ut, ti’ (using the European system of ‘ut–re–mi’ rather than ‘do–re–mi’). Two other songs are quoted: the Irish love song My Love’s an Arbutus and Wild Mountain Thyme by Francis McPeake. The composer says that the entry of the triple-time section is ‘like the soul lilting upwards’. Alan Bullard: Calm and deep peace / Simple Gifts This song combines colourfully pastoral fragments of Tennyson’s In Memoriam with the enduring and gentle American Shaker song ‘Simple Gifts’, creating a mood of tranquillity and positive hope. Thomas Morley, adap. Alan Bullard: Canzonet This unaccompanied song is from Morley’s Canzonets for Two Voices of 1595, here with the addition of an optional lowest part. Morley sets the text with great flexibility, incorporating many cross-rhythms as the voices weave in and out of each other. Alan Bullard: Celebrate! Combining body percussion with singing in canon, this joyful song celebrates our world, our friends and neighbours, and the power of music. Charles Edward Horn, arr. Alan Bullard: Cherry ripe Thought to be based on a market trader’s cry, C. E. Horn’s setting of Robert Herrick’s ‘Cherry ripe’ soon took on the status of a folk song, and has been performed in many different versions. In this arrangement lower voices are added to Horn’s melody and piano part. xii