Paul Carr

Gloria

Orchestration: Flute, 2 Oboes (2nd db Cor Anglais), Bassoon, Horn in F, Trumpet in C, Bass Trombone
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Soprano solo, Mixed Voice Choir (SATB)

In 2014 the Brian Kay selected my 'Requiem for an Angel' for performance at the Leith Hill Music Festival in Surrey, with my brother Gavin Carr as baritone soloist. Gavin took with him a handful of leaflets promoting his forthcoming choral trip to Cyprus where my 'Three Motets' were on the programme. Rosemary Scott and Sheila Nye, singers at Leith Hill and with the English Arts Chorale took up this invitation and I met them for the first time in Cyprus. Both were keen to acknowledge the contribution that Ian Le Grice had made to the life of English Arts Chorale as their accompanist and commissioned a short piece from me in dedication to him. The result was a setting of William Blake's poem, 'The Lamb'. So started my association with EAC.
In 2017, EAC then commissioned me to compose a setting of the 'Stabat Mater' for choir and orchestra and in October that year the work was premiered in St.Mary's Church, Reigate, with a 2nd performance a week later in the magnificent chapel of St.John's College, Cambridge, directed by their founding conductor, Leslie Olive. Both works have now been recorded and are released on the EM Records label.
So imagine my delight, when in 2018 the choir commissioned me a third time, to compose this 'Gloria'. For me, as a composer, nothing is more rewarding than being asked to write a specific piece and forming a relationship with a conductor and choir as I have with Leslie Olive and English Arts Chorale. As with my 'Stabat Mater', I have again taken inspiration in the music of baroque and classical composers; in this instance Vivaldi, whose 'Gloria' I first encountered as a teenager at school and whose energetic key of D major formed a starting point for my own work; and Mozart, the exquisite Adagio from his 'Gran Partita' which forms the harmonic basis of the Domine Deus. There is also a nod towards Bach in using a chorale from the St.Matthew Passion in the final pages.
The 'Gloria' is in five movements lasting approximately 30 minutes.
'Paul Carr'
'Duration 30 minutes'