On Christmas Night

Bob Chilcott

ISBN 10: 0193375605 ISBN 13: 9780193375604

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

By Bob Chilcott. For Upper voices, SATB choir, & organ/chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, percussion, harp, organ). Mixed Voices. Contemporary, Choral Works. Easy to moderately difficult. Vocal score. 40 pages. Duration 23'. Published by Oxford University Press

About this title

About the Author:

Bob Chilcott has been involved with choral music all his life, first as a Chorister and then a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge. Later, he sang and composed music for 12 years with the King's Singers. His experiences with that group, his passionate commitment to young and amateur choirs, and his profound belief that music can unite people, have inspired him both to compose full-time and, through proactive workshopping, to promote choral music worldwide.

Review:

In several of the pieces Chilcott combines an original tune of his own with that of a favourite traditional carol - I won't spoil things by saying which well-loved carols are included - and I think that this blending of old and new works very well. Chilcott's original tunes are good ones, too. I like the one to which he sets 'This is the truth sent from above', which opens and closes the sequence, and also the melodies for 'Sweet was the song' and 'O little town of Bethlehem'. There's a vivacious setting of 'Adam lay ybounden' and the penultimate setting, 'Rejoice and be merry' is joyful and exuberant. To some extent On Christmas Night is a case of old wine in new bottles; it's most attractive and I now think it works very much better than I did when first I heard it. * John Quinn, MusicWeb International, November 2013 * The music is original, but in several of the carols the upper voices introduce a different carol with its well-known melody. So, in the middle of the opening and closing 'This is the truth', the upper voices sing 'Once in royal David's city' to the expected tune . . . This upper-voice part is ideal for children's choirs although the composer also suggests it could be sung by congregation or audience. At one magical moment the tables are turned and under a soprano solo (or ad lib. upper voices) Sweet was the song the SATB choir sings Silent night. Any choir with upper voices and SATB would find many different ways of using this imaginative Christmas sequence. * Stephen Patterson, Church Music Quarterly, September 11 * Written with characteristic fluency and charm, Chilcott pulls together eight carol settings in all. His variety as a composer is fully evident, with folksy, Copland-esque numbers standing alongside a 'jubilate' mode reminiscent of William Mathias, and a more trademark, gently plangent style heard at its best in a lovely setting of A Spotless Rose . . . This is a very singable cycle . . . * Matthew Greenall, The Singer August 2011 *

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0193375605
• ISBN 13: 9780193375604
• Binding: Sheet music
• Number of pages: 40