Evening Service (2009, rev. 2025)
A setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimmitis
SATB, organ
Duration:
9′
First Performance:
22 October 2011
Choir of Selwyn College Cambridge, Sarah MacDonald, Selwyn College Chapel, Cambridge, UK
US Premiere:
12 January 2014
MiContraFa, JR Ankney, St James Episcopal Church, Lancaster, PA, USA
London Premiere:
17 March 2014
Choir of Selwyn College Cambridge, Sarah MacDonald, St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK
Score
Programme note
My setting of the Evening Service is a relatively simple piece, largely homophonic and rooted in a claustrophobic modal C# minor. The work is more influenced by the sensual, evocative nature of these two well-worn poems then any strong liturgical impulse. That being said, the mood, ambience and acoustic of a great cathedral haunt the piece like a benevolent spirit, its influence tangible, yet distant and ethereal – like much of the English choral repertoire of the past hundred years.
PAC
