Choral Music
Two Liturgical Canticles(1963) Duration 3 minutes each: SATB choir and organ – Benedictus Es; Jubilate Deo
Written when the composer was a student at the Royal College of Music in London for the Choir of St Mary¹s Episcopal Church, Aberdeen.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No: 29 0542 06
Gramophone Recordings:
Benedictus Es: Adelaide Singers, conducted by Patrick Thomas, with James Thiele (organ). Australian Artists, Australian Broadcasting Commission, RRCS-400 1370-B RIAA, s ide 2 band 2
Jubilate Deo: Paisley Abbey Choir, John Langdon (organ), Directed by George McPhee. Paisley Abbey Choir, Abbey, LPB 789, Side 2 band 4
Bairnrhymes (1963) Duration 5 minutes: unison voices and piano
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale)
See also under Vocal Music
Three Songs from Old Rhymes (1964) Duration 5 minutes: unison voices and piano. Novello & Company Ltd (Sale)
See also under Vocal Music
My Song is in Sighing (1964) Duration 3 minutes. High unison voices and piano or organ (see Vocal Music entry for fuller details)A Shorter Benedicite (1964) Duration 5 minutes: SATB choir and organ
Performance venues include Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No. 290543
Laudate Dominum (1964) Duration 10 minutes: motet for tenor or soprano solo, SATB chorus, organ or orchestra [2222 (or 1111); 4231 (or 2100); timp,perc; pno; strgs.]
Words from Psalm 150 and Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart. Composed for Aberdeen Grammar School. First performance in the Music Hall, Aberdeen, on 17 May 1965, conducted by Donald Hawksworth
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale or Hire) Catalogue No: A.H.&C.12926
Four Miniature Songs from Ezra Pound (1964) Duration 3 minutes: SATB (unaccompanied)
Written in 1964 while the composer was living in Rome. The poems belong to Pound’s imagist period when he tried to compress the maximum of feeling into a few words. First performed by the Aeolian Singers, conductor Sebastian Forbes, St Clement Danes Church, The Strand, London, on 14 November 1967.
Ts’ai Ch’i; Alba; The Faces; Fan-piece.
Alfred Lengnick & Co (Sale) Catalogue No. 4275
God be Merciful unto us and Bless us (1963) Duration 3 minutes: SATB and organ
Composer or Scottish Music Centre
(originally Chappell Music)
And He Shewed me a Pure River(1966) Duration 3 minutes: SATB and organ
Composer or Scottish Music Centre
(originally Chappell Music)
Requiem for Philip Sparrow (1967) Duration 22 minutes: mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, 3 oboes(CA), strings
Words from the poem Philip Sparrow by John Skelton. Commissioned by the Tilford Bach Choir who gave the first performance with Sybil Michelow at a Victoria and Albert Museum concert, conducted by Denys Darlow in London, on 10 March 1968. Novello & Company Ltd (Hire)
When I Consider Thy Heavens (1967) Duration 3 minutes: anthem for SATB & organ
Words from Psalms 8 and 9 written for Kelvinside Parish Church, Glasgow, and published as a Musical Times supplement.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No: 290393
Missa Fi-Fi (1969) Duration 22 minutes: 16 to 20 unaccompanied mixed voices including, preferably, 2 counter tenors; a second version includes parts for 5 Saxhorns, (2 Flugel Horns, 2 Baritones and Tuba) or alternatively available instruments.
A liturgical setting of the Latin Mass for unaccompanied voices, commissioned by the Hexham Abbey Festival with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was first performed by Cantores in Ecclesia, conductor Michael Howard, in Hexham Abbey on 27 September, 1969. The version with brass instruments was first performed in Trinity College, Cambridge on 27 January, 1970 by Cantores in Ecclesia and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, directed by Michael Howard. Chester Music (Sale or Hire) J.W.C. 8886
O Jesu Parvule (1969) Duration 2 minutes: carol SATB
Words by Hugh McDiarmid. Commissioned by the Louis Halsey Singers, and first performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, on 14 December 1969. Novello & Company Ltd
Orpheus (1972) Duration 17 minutes: mixed chorus (minimum 16 voices), narrator (optional) and 11 instruments: 0200; 2000; 1 perc; hpschd; strings: 11111
Commissioned by the John Currie Singers with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council, and first performed at the MacRobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling on 16 April 1972. Novello & Company Ltd (Hire)
Cantigas del Cancionero (1972) Duration 15 minutes: 5 solo voices: 2 tenors, 2 baritones, bass
Based on 13th century Spanish cantigas and canciones. Commissioned by the Baccholian Singers with funds from the Arts council of Great Britain, and first performed by them at the University of Glasgow on 9 February 1972.
Dalby’s arrangements of the four cantigas and canciones on which the piece is based may be performed alone (Duration 6 minutes) Novello & Company Ltd
El Remanso del Pitido (1974) Duration 15 minutes: 12 solo voices, 8 of them amplified(optional)
Commissioned by the London Sinfonietta for the London Sinfonietta Chorus, with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. First performance by the London Sinfonietta Chorus, conducted by Ward Swingle, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 5 April 1974. Novello & Company Ltd (Hire)
Ad Flumina Babyloniae (1975) Duration 5 minutes: motet for SATB choir (minimum 3333)
Commissioned by Cantores in Ecclesia with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was first performed by them in Ghent in Belgium, on 17th September 1975, conducted by Michael Howard. The first UK performances was given by the same performers in Rye Parish Church on 25 April 1976. The words are taken from Psalm 137.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No: 29 0368 07
Beauty A Cause (1977) Duration 18 minutes: mixed voices (minimum 12) with instrumental ensemble: 1 perc; hpschd; strings: 11111 (or 33221).
Text from the Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1577-1640). Commsioned by the John Currie Singers with assistance from the Scottish Arts Council, and first performed in Glasgow on 13 February 1978.
Novello & Company Litd (Hire)
Coll for the Hazel Tree (1979) Duration 25 minutes
‘Spell for Four Voices’ – SATB soli with amplification
Words commissioned from Edwin Morgan. Commissioned by Electric Phoenix who first performed it at St Andrew¹s University, Fife, on 27 February 1980.
Novello & Company Ltd (Hire)
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (1980) Duration 8 minutes: SATB & organ
Commissioned by Paisley Abbey Choir with funds from the Scottish Arts Council, and first performed at PaisleyAbbey on 30 November 1980.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No. 290495
Mater Salutaris (1981) Duration 5 minutes: carol for SATB & organ
Written for Norman Mitchell and Glasgow High School who performed it for the first time on 17 December 1981. It is a setting of a macaronic text from a medieval source translated by Brian Stone.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No. 290529
Gramophone recordings:
Paisley Abbey Choir, John Langdon (organ), director George McPhee: Cantate Domino: Alpha ACA532 (Abbey Recording Company)Side 2 band 6
Peterborough Cathedral Choir, director Christopher Gower:
Alpha ACA557 (Abbey Recording Company)
Aberdeen Youth Choir, John Kitchen (organ), director Christopher Bell:
My Song is Love: the divine art 2-5004 (CD)
My Heart Aflame (1983) Duration 4 minutes: motet SATB (a capella)
Words adapted by Leslie Mitchell from the Song of Solomon. Commissioned by Glasgow and Galloway Diocesan Music Association with funds from the Scottish Arts Council. First performance by combined church choirs, conductor Alan Spedding, in St Mary¹s Cathedral, Glasgow, on 29 October 1983.
Novello & Company Ltd (Sale) Catalogue No. 290539
CD Recording:
Aberdeen Youth Choir, John Kitchen (organ), director Christopher Bell:
My Song is Love: the divine art 2-5004 (CD)
Same recording included on:
Seriously Scottish, Music from Contemporary Scotland
Volume 2, Disc 1 SMIC 001/002 (CD)
Celebration in Psalms (1985) Duration 18 minutes: mixed chorus; brass (0431); 2 perc (incl timp); organ.
Commissioned by the Aberdeen Bach Choir for their 30th anniversary with the financial help of the Scottish Arts Council. Text chosen by Douglas Kynoch. First performance at St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 8 December, 1985, conducted by James Lobban.
Words from Psalms 81,100, 8 and 150. Novello & Company Ltd (Hire)
The Sower (1988) Duration 6 minutes: anthem SATB
Text drawn from the Gospel according to St Mark, Chapter 4 in the New Testament in Scots, translated by William Laughton Lorimer. Commissioned by BBC Radio Scotland to celebrate its 10th anniversary. First performance on Radio Scotland, conducted by Timothy Redman, on 20 November 1988.
Novello & Company Ltd
Nec Tamen Consumebatur (1989) Duration 7 minutes: anthem SATB and organ
Text in English, from Exodus Chapter 3, verses 1 to 6. Commissioned by Cappella Nova with financial assistance from the Scottish Arts Council. First performance conducted by Alan Tavener, at Glasgow Cathedral, on 26 June 1989.
Novello & Company Ltd
CD Recording:
Cappella Nova, directed by Alan Tavener, recorded in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. Cappella Nova, Twentieth Century Scottish Choral Music,
Linn Records, Linn CKD 014.
Et Resurrexit (1990) Duration 7 minutes: SATB chorus and organ
Commissioned by the City of Glasgow District Council for the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge during Glasgow¹s year as European City of Culture, 1990. First performance at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, on 22 June 1990, conducted by Stephen Cleobury. Novello & Company Ltd
The New Novello Anthem Book Catalogue No. Nov 032106
ISBN 0-85360-705-2
Balulalow: Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ (1992)
SATB (not soli) Duration 7 minutes
Commissioned by Cappella Nova with the financial assistance of the Scottish Arts Council. Cappella Nova, directed by Alan Tavener, performed it for the first time in the Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow on December 18 1992. It is a setting of eight verses from Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ, a translation of a carol by Luther by the brothers James, John and Robert Wedderburn in their Ane Compendious Buik of Godly and Spirituall Songis of 1567.
Composer or Scottish Music Centre
Ballade pour prier Nostre Dame (1998) Duration 7 minutes: SSA and organ
Commissioned by the Bearsden Choir and first performed by them, conducted by James Hunter, in St Aloysius , Roman Catholic Church, Glasgow, 25 April 1998. The words are by the French poet François Villon (1431-63)
Composer or Scottish Music Centre
Two Songs of Ascent SATB and Organ (2006)
Settings of Psalm 121 and Psalm 131. Durations 4 minutes and 2 minutes 30 seconds respectively. Commissioned by Roderick Neilson “In memory of his mother Agnes Neilson and for the Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow.” First performance: St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, directed by Frickie Walker, 15 October 2006. Composer or Scottish Music Centre ( Sale ) …..on the wings of the wind (2006) Duration 4 minutes. A setting of part of Psalm 104 for treble voices and piano or organ (see also Vocal Music). Composer or Scottish Music Centre ( Sale ) Of Thy Human Heart (2006) Duration 2 minutes 45 seconds: carol for SATB and organ requested by Giles Swayne for his collection of new carols. Gonzaga Music