Exsultet (2014, rev. 2024)

Organ

Commissioned by the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music for the 2014 festival.

Duration:
6′

First performance:
14 May 2014
Leon Charles, St Pancras Church, Marylebone, London, UK

Scottish première:
20 January 2020
Jonathan Clinch, King’s College Chapel, Aberdeen, UK

French Première:
11 May 2024
Florence Rousseau, Eglise de Paramé, Saint-Malo, France


Score


Programme note

Exsultet take its title from the opening line of the Easter Proclamation – the hymn of praise sung before the lighting of the paschal candle during the Easter Vigil. My work is an attempt to distil much of the exultation and rejoicing of this moment in the church year, but being fully aware of what has passed and what is still to come. Exsultet is essentially in a sort of Rondo form with the opening material returning in several different and progressively more complex guises, this is interspersed by slower, more reflective material with a characteristic arabesque fragment. The two groups of material gradually interfere with each other, and elements of one seeps into the other.

PAC


Recording

Exsultet (2014) by Phillip Cooke, performed by Leon Charles on the organ of St Pancras Church, London, on 14 May 2014.

Tobias Patrick Wolf

Tobias is an award-winning German conductor and composer based in North East Scotland. He is Music Director of the renowned King’s Studio Orchestra (Scotland), the Braeside Singers (Aberdeen) and Principal Guest Conductor of the German Winds. Tobias is PhD researcher at the University of Aberdeen, exploring hybrid composition and performance practice. Sought after as guest conductor for ensembles around the globe, he brings new music to life — for audiences in the concert hall, on radio and television, and across multi-platform online streaming services.

https://www.tpwolf.com
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Sweet was the song (2014)

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Threnos (2014)