This short Advent antiphon aims to capture some of the anticipation and drama of the season and the coming of the Lord. The piece is essentially in three ‘waves’ each becoming more significant until the final line of ‘let us on put on the armour of light’ heralds a huge organ climax full or colour and fulfilment. 

The Missa Omnium Sanctorum is the first full setting (i.e. including the ‘Credo’) of the Mass that I have made and one of my largest unaccompanied choral works to date. The piece alternates between a sombre, shadowy F minor and a brighter, iridescent modal A major – the former for more prayerful and supplicative material, the latter for the more celebratory moments of praise and benediction. The two harmonic areas coincide and colour each other throughout and the overall mood of the work is reflective but benevolent. 

There have been many simple, prayerful settings of these heartfelt words and my offering is in a similar vein with more than a nod to the pieces by Walford Davies, Howells and Rutter.

The second set of Three Partsongs, continues my interest in the music and fashions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that I have explored in many works over the past two decades, the most similar being the first set of partsongs from 2008-12. Like their predecessors, the second set of Three Partsongs are simple settings for SATB unaccompanied choir, taking their influence from the Romantic idea of the partsong as a simple, homophonic, melody dominated piece often taking its inspiration from nature and other Romantic notions.

Lumen in Umbra is a sustained, atmospheric piece taking two lines of text relating to light and darkness and creating a slowly changing tableau that centres around a high-pitched drone from tuned wine glasses. The light in the piece changes from moment to moment, sometimes bright and coruscating, sometimes wan and distant.

My setting of the Agnus Dei is in a simple tripartite form, with softer modal writing balanced against more strident homophonic material. This balancing is accentuated by two different harmonic spheres which are in a benign conflict, with one ultimately prevailing over the other. Throughout, the organ acts as both onlooker and participant, providing the necessary detachment to create a meaningful setting of these heartfelt words.

Hodie Christus Natus Est is a homage to that particularly ‘rustic’ element in early medieval church music, where elements of the pre-Christian and Christian rites seemed to coexist in a beguiling symbiosis. The work aims to blend a folksy, communal dance element with more traditional choral writing. It is a light-hearted piece, and the score could be used as a blueprint to a more extreme version of what is composed where the ‘pagan’ aspects of the work could be exaggerated to great effect.

Ubi Caritas is a simple setting of these well-known and much loved words. My work is warm and direct with a wistful melody filtered through the whole choir in its short duration. The work is dedicated to my in-laws on their seventieth birthdays and was written for Benedict Preece and Caritas Chamber Choir who have supported my work with such dedication in 2022.

Al is Alles Stil was written for the Dutch choir Cappella Vocale for their 25th anniversary concert in October 2022. On the one hand it is a work of celebration and festivity, however, as the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is also tinged with sadness and nostalgia at all that was lost and could have been.

My second setting of the Te Deum is more expansive than the first, split into four movements and featuring a prominent solo soprano part. It takes a short self-quotation from an earlier work as the basis for a fifteen-minute modal fantasia.

Canticum Mariae Virginis juxtaposes two texts, both regarding the Virgin Mary, but offering different yet complementary accounts of the Blessed Virgin. As well as pairing these texts, the piece also uses two different languages and two points of view in its six-minute duration.

Coronach is the culmination of four years of incremental work and carries on a current preoccupation with integrating elements of Scottish history and culture into my work. The piece is in seven movements and alternates between settings of Scottish romantic poetry with Gaelic folksongs collected by Hamish Henderson (1919-2002), a renaissance man of mid-twentieth century Scottish poetry and folklore.

As The Mirk Night is a set of four relatively simple arrangements of these beautiful Burns songs for choir. I have tried to keep as close to the originals as possible with the odd change of texture and harmony here and there adding a twenty-first century gloss to the piece. They form part of a wider concern in my work that involves engaging with Scottish culture and history.

Regina Coeli is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.

Alma Redemptoris Mater is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.

My setting of the Gloria was written during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and what I imagined might initially be an introspective and melancholy work actually turned out to be one of my most ebullient and colourful pieces, spurred on by this unusual and percussive collection of instruments.

Thread About My Heart is the second-largest piece that I have written to date, and certainly the most substantial since my oratorio Noah’s Fire that was premiered in 2015. It is, somewhat remarkably, the first time that I have set the words of any of the Lake Poets, never mind the work of the most illustrious of the group, William Wordsworth.

Salve Regina is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.

My new work The Mystery of Light (2019) was performed by the University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir at a special graduation service at the University of Aberdeen to honour HRH Princess Anne.

When in Our Music is a ‘festival’ anthem for choir, brass, percussion and organ, written to be a celebratory and optimistic offering full of vibrancy and verve.