We're learning lots of new music at the moment. The USA concert programmes, good as they were and beneficial as it was to sing the same repertoire over an extended period, have left me (if not all of us) hungry for something new. The reset button has been pressed and each rehearsal is devoted first to some familiar repertoire for the day's service, and then to lots of new stuff; the looming proximity of Christmas and all that entails means it's a good time to start feeding in the new music before things get too frantic.
One thread we are working on at the moment is a recording for next calendar year. The exact repertoire is yet to be finalized but it will be lots of, or entirely, James MacMillan. I've been in contact with his publishers for a few months over this and they've been sending lots of ideas through. One of them immediately caught my attention: a choir and organ setting of the Te Deum, in Latin, simply called 'Edinburgh Te Deum.' It begins with a catchy rhythmic ostinato on the organ over which comes a jagged treble melody. It's generally more angular, tonally and melodically, than the style we're familiar with. I've put it down for Vespers this Sunday. Although the Te Deum is not a vespers text, it is an apt choice for the feast of Christ the King (containing as it does the words "Tu Rex gloriae Christe") and our Vespers motet slot is the free-est of any during a normal week; we are less constrained in choice of text than at mass and the music can also be more extended without interrupting the flow of the liturgy.
I contacted MacMillan and it turns out that this will be the world première performance! He wrote it in 1980 when a student in Edinburgh, forgot about it, and is only just publishing it. This explains the difference in style.
Sunday Vespers is, therefore, quite an event for us. Do try and come along and hear the first performance of a work by one of the greatest living composers at 3.30pm this Sunday, 20 November.
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