Swimming over London

Friday 24 March 2023 at St Simon Zelotes Church

Programme

Immortal Bach
J.S.Bach arr. Knut Nystedt

O Nata Lux
Thomas Tallis

Crucifixus á 8
Antonio Lotti

My Prayer (Psalm 102: 1)
Bob Chilcott (after Henry Purcell)

Haec Dies (Psalm 118: 24)
William Byrd

Drop, drop, slow tears from Crucifixus Pro Nobis
Kenneth Leighton (words by Phineas Fletcher)

Easter Chorale (Op.40)
Samuel Barber (words by Pack Browning)

Agnus Dei (transcribed from Adagio for Strings Op.11)
Samuel Barber

---INTERVAL---

Thule, the Period of Cosmography
The Andalusian Merchant
Thomas Weelkes

Her Army - WORLD PREMIERE
Jamie Cumming-Wesley (words by Siobhan Tebbs)

The tide rises, the tide falls
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Sea Songs For Choir - WORLD PREMIERE
1: The Sound
2: The Sea
3: The Sky
Mike Dixon (words by Susan Penhaligon)

​Swimming over London
Bob Chilcott (words by Charles Bennett)

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Programme notes
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HER ARMY
Written by the poet Siobhan Tebbs, Her Army is an abstract reflection upon the role of nature – particularly the ocean – as a reassuring constant in all our lives, regardless of the challenges we are facing.  There are subtle references to mental health, anxiety and (temporary) joy, and a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that, inevitably, regardless of our choices, feelings or opinions, the ocean will endure.  The text is set to music by Jamie Cumming-Wesley (the poet’s brother). The music is as much shaped by the sounds of the words as by their meaning. Her Army has a loose form in relation to both harmony and melody.  Jamie is inspired by the works of Eric Whitacre, Arvo Pärt and Gabriel Jackson.

SEA SONGS FOR CHOIR
Music by Mike Dixon - Poems by Susan Penhaligon

Susan says: 
The Sound is about my father, who was in the Navy during WW2. Once, I sailed into Plymouth on a training yacht and passed all these decommissioned boats and I thought of him.
The Sea was written for a fisherman I knew in St Ives. 
The Sky is about St Ives, my home town and the influx of visitors taking over every summer and how much I didn’t want it to change. Of course, it has.

Mike says:
I read Susan’s poems and they immediately invoked a musical response from me - they needed to be sung!
I am originally from Plymouth so the words of the first one particularly take me back to the days of my youth, seeing the great ships along the river Tamar.
They are in simple four part choral harmony and with tunes that are reminiscent of sea shanties from the past.