for SATB and organ Archer's setting of this well-known Christmas text is lilting and buoyant, with a memorable melody and charming organ interludes. Suitable for liturgical or concert use, the carol features great textual variety, building to a rousing finish that is sure to fill audiences with Christmas cheer!

for SAATB unaccompanied A piece made famous by the award-winning a cappella group Vocado, Coffee Time is an upbeat dedication to the down time we all crave, for sharing thoughts, silence, and that aroma! Founded on classic a cappella style and sense of fun, the piece boasts an infectious melody and bossa nova rhythm, with sumptuous key changes, scat rhythms, and contrasting sections. The piece is perfect for vocal groups or small- to medium-size choirs, and has the makings of a great encore or competition piece.

Elegy, with its warmly expressive tenor-range melodies, is highly suitable for use at funerals, while the cascading joy of Festive Bells makes it perfect as a wedding recessional. The finely wrought sonorities will sound to maximum effect on a large organ in a spacious acoustic, but will nonetheless be convincing on even the most modest of instruments. Both pieces have that warm sense of Englishness that makes them very accessible to the first-time listener.

for SATB double choir, children's choir, and piano Setting a text by Charles Bennett, The White Field presents a dreamlike scene in which blackbirds plant songs in the cold earth and await the growth of their music. Chilcott's melodies echo through the voices, before a climactic tutti central section giving full voice to the idea of renewal and hope in the depth of winter. A wistful coda completes the reverie as the blackbirds settle to await the return of the sun. The piano part provides harmonic support and rhythmic energy to the voice parts with chordal and semiquaver figurations throughout the work. The White Field was commissioned by the Barbican Centre for London Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Chorus for Sound Unbound, November 2015.

for SATB, piano, and optional saxophone, bass, and drum kit Ophelia, Caliban, and Miranda puts a jazzy twist on three Shakespearean characters. With newly written texts by Charles Bennett, each of the three movements focuses in on Ophelia from Hamlet and Caliban and Miranda from The Tempest. In the funky opener, 'River Bride', the upper voices take the part of Ophelia, while the tenors and basses play a lover figure. Caliban's song, 'Ariel taught me how to play', is a reflective ballad in which the slave tells Miranda, who has escaped his advances, about the spirit helper Ariel teaching him to play the saxophone. The final movement, 'All good things come to an end', is a sassy yet tender number, where Miranda bids farewell to her beloved husband Ferdinand, declaring: 'I've gone back to the island to remember who I am'. The piano part may be played as written or serve as a guide, and a part for saxophone, bass, and drum kit is available separately for jazz quartet accompaniment.

for soloists, SATB, and organ Written for the Choir of Wells Cathedral, of which Matthew Owens is Organist and Master of the Choristers, this setting of the St Matthew Passion is ideally suited to liturgical performance during Holy Week. The principal role of the Evangelist is taken by a baritone soloist, who narrates the story of Christ's trial and Crucifixion in unaccompanied chant. The other, smaller, solo roles of Judas (tenor), Pilate (tenor), Jesus (bass), and Pilate's wife (alto) continue in the same vein, with four-part choral interspersions from the crowds, soldiers, and priests providing a contrast in texture. The hymn 'When I survey the wondrous cross', set to the Rockingham hymn tune, appears twice throughout the work, and the congregation are encouraged to join in on both occasions. The simple organ part supports the voices for the hymn, and may also optionally double the choir during the narrative.

for SSAATTBB unaccompanied Ave gloriosa mater salvatoris is a challenging and yet delicate anthem, with subtle key-signature changes, vocal divisions in up to eight parts, and alternating homophonic and polyphonic passages. The text includes excerpts from the synonymous medieval hymn and Wordsworth's poem The Virgin, making the piece suitable for a variety of sacred celebrations and particularly those of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

for violin and mixed choir This innovative and imaginative choral arrangement of The Lark Ascending has the original solo violin part accompanied by mixed choir. It sensitively sets George Meredith's poem (on which the original orchestration is based) and combines this with wordless vocal lines and vocal solos, preserving the texture and timeless effect of the original. Commissioned and premiered by the Swedish Chamber Choir, the work has also been recorded by the choir under the direction of Simon Phipps.

for SAT and piano or organ Originally published in the collection Alan Bullard Anthems, this optimistic setting of Jan Struther's famous text is perfectly suited to performance at a variety of occasions, including at weddings, funerals, and services throughout the year. Bullard's original melody is expressive and graceful, paying homage to the message of the words, and the supportive and melodious accompaniment may be performed on piano or organ.

This engaging work was composed in 1929 and premiered the following year by its dedicatee, the legendary Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. The five folk songs on which the work is founded are 'Salisbury Plain', 'The Long Whip', 'Low down in the broom', 'Bristol Town', and 'I've been to France'. This arrangement for solo viola and orchestra is compatible with the original orchestral accompaniment, materials for which are available on hire.

for SAATBB unaccompanied This touching piece sets Yeats' beautiful words describing the love of a parent for their child. Switching between major and minor tonalities, A Cradle Song is quiet and understated, with sensitive a cappella scoring that makes the sentiments seem all the more real. This is an impressive and sophisticated debut from Swedish singer and composer Joel Nilson.

for SSA unaccompanied Songbird sets an evocative text by the composer describing songbirds that spin tunes of gold. The catchy, colourful melody is first presented by tutti voices, and is then woven through the vocal parts, often to scat accompaniment.

for SATB, piano, and optional saxophone, bass, and drum kit Ophelia, Caliban, and Miranda puts a jazzy twist on three Shakespearean characters. With newly written texts by Charles Bennett, each of the three movements focuses in on Ophelia from Hamlet and Caliban and Miranda from The Tempest. In the funky opener, 'River Bride', the upper voices take the part of Ophelia, while the tenors and basses play a lover figure. Caliban's song, 'Ariel taught me how to play', is a reflective ballad in which the slave tells Miranda, who has escaped his advances, about the spirit helper Ariel teaching him to play the saxophone. The final movement, 'All good things come to an end', is a sassy yet tender number, where Miranda bids farewell to her beloved husband Ferdinand, declaring: 'I've gone back to the island to remember who I am'. The saxophone, bass, piano, and drum kit parts may be played as written or serve as a guide.

for soprano and baritone soloists, SATB chorus, and orchestra 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'.

for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and violoncello The concept of the Five Elements was a central aspect of traditional Chinese thought. Here each of the Five Elements is characterised in an individual movement. In the first movement metal is represented by metallic percussion, while in the second movement marimba and claves are used to portray wood. In the third movement a slower and expansive texture is employed to signify water, and rhythmic drumming is used to illustrate the heat of fire, the subject of movement four. A majestic yet peaceful final movement portrays Earth, where all the elements are transformed into a perfect balance.

for SAATBB unaccompanied The signature tune for the award-winning Swedish a cappella group Vocado, this poignant love song is characterized by mixed messages: the lover wants to leave, but can't quite bring himself to walk out the door. The flavour of the music reflects the dilemma, with emotions ranging from muted acceptance in the verses to highly charged indecision in the passionate chorus. With classic a cappella rhythms and textures, along with melodies that will stay with you for days, this dual-language publication in the Voice Junction series is perfect for vocal groups and choirs singing in Swedish or English. Hall mig kvar has been recorded by Vocado on the CD 'Northern Lights'.

for solo piano and full orchestra This work opens with a form of Shaman-dance from North-east China, during which the piano mimics some of the animal postures seen in the art of kung fu. Pianobells, the more lyrical and lightly orchestrated second movement, takes two contrasting bells (Mighty Bells and Frost Bells) as its narrative throughout. The third and final movement, which is intended to represent the Peking Opera Monkey's action, is a wild and intense finale with rapid rhythmic patterns from the percussion. This concerto is exciting, lively, and highlights the piano as a virtuoso percussion instrument.

This hauntingly beautiful piece, arranged for flute and piano by the composer, is extracted from Rutter's large-scale work Visions. The expressive solo line features long phrases and a quasi-improvised section, making it an ideal concert work for intermediate to advanced flautists.

Benjamin Britten was one of the most important cultural figures in England in the twentieth century. Internationally renowned as a composer, performer, and founder of the Aldeburgh Festival and English Opera Group, he had a career spanning nearly five decades, producing a series of works such as Peter Grimes and the War Requiem that caught the public imagination, and becoming a familiar figure to worldwide concert and TV and radio audiences through his conducting and song recitals with his partner, the tenor Peter Pears. Behind this public face, however, Britten was an intensively private man, who valued perhaps more than anything the time he spent at home on the Suffolk coast, composing and enjoying a settled domestic life. Britten in Pictures celebrates the many facets of Britten's life in a major new photographic treatment timed to coincide with the composer's centenary in 2013. Using the wealth of images housed in the collections of The Britten-Pears Foundation at Aldeburgh, the book charts the curve of Britten's life, using a selection of rare and previously unpublished images to reveal him anew in all phases of his career, catching a multitude of informal glimpses of the man 'behind the scenes' at work and play as well as in more familiar formal settings. The result is a new and often surprising portrait of this major musical genius. Published in association with The Britten-Pears Foundation.

Vaughan Williams wrote Symphony No. 8 between 1953 and 1955 while in his eighties. It is his shortest symphony and considered by many to be his least serious. Aside from a few sombre moments, the symphony is optimistic in mood and displays Vaughan Williams's love for exotic and colourful combinations of instruments with a percussion sections that, he said, employs "all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer". For this newly engraved edition, editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions. The full score is completed with Textual Notes and Preface, and accompanying orchestral parts are available on hire.

for upper voices, SATB, and piano or orchestra The Seeds of Stars is a resplendent setting of a philosophical text by Charles Bennett. The rippling piano part provides a shimmering accompaniment to radiant and expressive vocal lines, and Chilcott effectively contrasts upper- and mixed-voice sections with stirring passages for all voices. Reflecting the vivid imagery of the text, the upper voices soar above the choir during climatic moments, but also bring the piece to its gentle, profound close. An orchestral accompaniment is available on hire/rental.