World Carols for Choirs - 31 Carols for mixed voices

S Great Clarendon

S Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, England 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016, USA Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s aim of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries for online perusal only © Oxford University Press 2005 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Music Copyright Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above Permission to perform the works in this anthology in public (except in the course of divine worship) should normally be obtained from the Performing Right Society Ltd. (PRS), 29/33 Berners Street, London W1P 4AA, or its affiliated Societies in each country throughout the world, unless the owner or the occupier of the premises being used holds a licence from the Society Permission to make a recording must be obtained in advance from the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Ltd. (MCPS), Elgar House, 41 Streatham High Road, London SW16 1ER, or its affiliated Societies in each country throughout the world 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 ISBN 0–19–353231–X 978–0–19–353231–1 Music and text origination by Barnes Music Engraving Ltd., East Sussex Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Halstan & Co. Ltd., Amersham, Bucks. Every effort has been made to seek permission for the use of all copyright items in this book. In the event that any item has been overlooked, the publishers will be glad to rectify this on reprint.

PREFACE World Carols for Choirs brings together 31 new carols and carol arrangements by composers from all over Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. In keeping with the ever-widening global context in which so many of us live, this collection attempts to embrace the choral traditions of cultures worldwide. The composers we asked to provide carols for this project include both established writers and writers whose work may be new to many. In some instances, the composers have chosen to arrange a traditional carol from their own cultures. Some of the sound-worlds of these carols will be more traditionally familiar to English-speaking or western European choirs, as with the lovely old melodies arranged by Eleanor Daley from Canada, Vic Nees from Belgium, and the German Karsten Gundermann. Other carols draw us into less traditional sound-worlds, from Selga Mence’s belllike version of a Latvian carol and Vahram Sargysan’s powerful and large-scale arrangement of an old Armenian chant, to Tony Guzmán’s infectious dancing version of Ramón Díaz’s dynamic song. Other composers have chosen to create completely new carols with new words and music. These include the Australian Stephen Leek’s Southern Cross, which gives us a feel of Christmas in the sunshine, and Carl Rütti’s Im Silbernen Wassergrund, in which the Swiss composer brings to life the dense text with his hallmark bitter-sweet harmony. Infant Joy by the Japanese composer Rikuya Terashima uses the well-known William Blake poem—not strictly a Christmas piece, but one that tells eloquently of the joy of new birth. All the carols here have been published in the original language, but each one also includes a singing translation in English—most of which have been prepared especially for this collection. For those who feel inspired to sing the carols in the original language, we have provided pronunciation guides written for each piece by the composers and other experts. Alternatively, we hope that the translations will offer a singable option. What is clear to us is that each piece brings its own sound- and musical world to tell the story of the birth of Jesus. We hope that the collection will help to refresh the repertoire of choirs all over the world, at a time when singing together brings us closer together. for online perusal only Acknowledgements We would like to thank the BBC Singers along with Michael Emery and Stephen Ashley-King for their marvellous singing on the recording associated with this collection. Thank you also to Jeremy Jackman and Tim Morris for their translations of the texts, and to the following people (in addition to the composers) for their assistance in preparing or editing the pronunciation guides: Ildiko Allen, Åse Bergstrom, Arthur Bobikyan, Hermann Eckel, Tomasz Habraszewski, Oliver Kuusik, Pippa Mayfield, Anna Kirsten Nygaard, Irena Rozman, Nicole Tibbels, Henry Vermaak, Lilija Zobens and staff at the Iceland Music Information Centre. Special thanks go to David Blackwell and Jane Griffiths for their work on this volume, and to Kristen Thorner for all the marvellous work she has done to bring it to life. Bob Chilcott and Susan Knight June 2005 iii