2023

Tell O Shepherds at the Sing Clifton Christmas Concert

‘Tell O Shepherds’, Sing Clifton Christmas Concert 2023

Concert day yesterday! I wrote the music for Tell O Shepherds a few years back, inspired by carol singing basically. I wanted something that just felt like one of the traditional carols, four-part, with a nice sop descant in the last verse. There’s a little bit of a nod to ‘Infant Holy Infant Lowly’ with the rising sequence, and think the words might even be related/from the same source originally.

You can get the sheet music for Tell O Shepherds here.

Sing Clifton.

Easter Hymns etc

catching up with arrears here; recorded these for Easter!

Him upon the cross I love – A year some back, I think, I returned to the Catherine Winkworth oeuvre … and had a go setting this one in a kind of, um, musical theatre style? I find it rather challenging to sing, but here’s a kind of demo anyway.

Him upon the cross I love

From Thy Heavenly Throne, a new recording of one that first appeared here, words again by Winkworth.

From thy heavenly throne

God of mercy, God of grace – I recorded this before too, but maybe never shared it. Words by Henry Francis Lyte. unlike the previous two, this is less soloistic, could be definitely sung by a group, more of a … I was going to say “modern” and “hymn”, but what I think I mean is 80s-90s chorus 😄

God of mercy, God of grace

Wesley: Easter Hymn. I kind of didn’t realise these lyrics were THIS song, without the Allelulias I associate it with. So, here’s another different tune! This one is also envisaged more as a singable group song – one of those joyful marching songs for Easter.

Easter Week by Charles Kingsley. I am enjoying the jubilant melismas and big alto notes here ^_^

Easter Week

More Elizabethan angst

o those Elizabethans and their aesthetic bitterness! Here’s a song setting sketch from a couple months ago that I never posted, but had a decent rough recording of.

words by Robert Jones, found in Lyrics from the song-books of the Elizabethan age

Once did my thoughts both ebbe and flow,
As passion did them move,
Once did I hope, straight fear again,
And then I was in love.

Once did I waking spend the night,
And told how many minutes move,
Once did I wishing waste the day,
And then I was in love.

Once by my carving true love’s knot,
The weeping trees did prove,
That wounds and tears were both our lot,
And then I was in love.

Once did I breathe another’s breath,
And in my mistress move,
Once was I not mine own at all,
And then I was in love.

Once did I Sonnet to my Saint,
My soul in numbers move,
Once did I tell a thousand lies,
And then I was in love.

Once wore I bracelets made of hair,
And collars did approve,
Once wore my clothes made out of wax,
And then I was in love.

Once in my ear did dangling hang,
A little turtle dove,
Once, in a word, I was a fool,
And then I was in love.

ABYSS international release (game music and SFX)

Delighted to finally be able to share the game I was working on over the winter. ‘Abyss’ is the second project I worked for Titans Entertainment on, after Mythicland, this time contributing seven soundtrack pieces and also 100+ sound effects, including everything you hear in the intro video. Here’s that and some gameplay!

Find out more and download the game from the homepage here.

And hey, if you play and get to any other boss fights, why not take a video? There are three different boss battle themes in there somewhere…