Howard Skempton

This is an imaginative setting of a sequence of nine poems from 'Viking Poetry of Love and War' by Judith Jesch. The war poems are formal and celebratory, making vivid use of figures of speech known a...

This is an imaginative setting of a sequence of nine poems from 'Viking Poetry of Love and War' by Judith Jesch. The war poems are formal and celebratory, making vivid use of figures of speech known a...

Originally published in The Ivy and the Holly, this lively setting of a text by Francis Kinwelmershe features a lilting melody and homophonic texture throughout, allowing the spirit of the text to shi...

Skempton's setting of one of the fool's songs from Twelfth Night is poignant and sombre, featuring angular melodies and homophonic textures that clearly convey Shakespeare's moving words. Originally p...

In Grown about by fragrant bushes, Skempton sets a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson using gentle, lilting melodies. The theme of loss is sensitively conveyed in a tonal language that is made more expres...

From the collection Epiphany to All Saints for Choirs, this lively and spiritual-influenced piece features a constantly shifting time signature and a text by the composer narrating the journey of the...

This short Missa brevis setting is perfect for choirs looking to bring a fresh soundworld to their worship. Each movement is distinct in character, but with an overall cohesiveness of harmonic languag...

Skempton's After Rain sets an evocative text by Edward Thomas with a contemplative choral part over a rich and slow-moving cello line. Skempton alternates between contrasting upper-voice duets and ful...

A short, eloquant piece commissioned by Winchester College reflecting the spirit of Advent. Offprinted from the collection Cantica Nova.

In Skempton's effective minimalistic style, this short work sets a well-known sacred text from Ecclesiastes 3, 1DS8. Emphasis is given to the text through the homorhythmic texture and flexible metre.

Setting William Johnson Cory's translation of Callimachus's epigram, this poignant piece exemplifies Skempton's minimalist aesthetic. Using a restrained rhythmic palette of minims and crotchets, the w...

For ATTBB solo voices unaccompanied. Skempton's setting of the text from the Book of Revelation is reflective rather than ferocious, and trusts in the power of understatement.

For SATB unaccompanied. New Horizons showcases the wealth of exciting, innovative, and occasionally challenging choral music being written today. It encompasses the whole gamut of small-scale choral g...

For SATB unaccompanied. These beautiful motets provide inspiring new repertoire for choirs. Locus iste is rhythmic and uplifting; Ave Virgo sanctissima is a gentle setting of a Spanish antiphon, full...

For SATB unaccompanied. New Horizons showcases the wealth of exciting, innovative, and occasionally challenging choral music being written today. It encompasses the whole gamut of small-scale choral g...

For SATB chorus, unaccompanied. The text is a set of six poems by John Drinkwater (1882-1937). Drinkwater had close associations with Warwickshire and much of his poetry reveals his love of the countr...

A simple setting of this popular medieval Advent carol which has great originality and impact. The style is controlled, almost austere, and the effect is hypnotic. This is an unsettling but poignant p...

For SATB unaccompanied. The text is taken from Shelley's epic poem Prometheus Unbound. Skempton sets passages in which a Chorus of Hours and a Chorus of Spirits celebrate in ecstatic language the unsh...

New Horizons showcases the wealth of exciting, innovative, and occasionally challenging choral music being written today. It encompasses the whole gamut of small-scale choral genres, both secular and...

For SATB unaccompanied. New Horizons showcases the wealth of exciting, innovative, and occasionally challenging choral music being written today. It encompasses the whole gamut of small-scale choral g...

For SATB unaccompanied. New Horizons showcases the wealth of exciting, innovative, and occasionally challenging choral music being written today. It encompasses the whole gamut of small-scale choral g...

For SATB unaccompaniedRalph Waldo Emerson's secular text concerning music's omnipresence ('But in the darkest, meanest things there always something sings. ') is set with affecting and arresting simpl...

For SATB unaccompanied. 'The Bridge of Fire', written in 1906, is the title poem of James Elroy Flecker's first published volume. It is largely a vivid description of the many Gods of Heaven, the grea...

This work is based on the traditional modes/scales of Armenia. 'Duduk' is the name of the Armenian oboe that is normally accompanied by drones. Erkoreka cleverly creates the illusion of the drone's pr...

These attractive settings of the ancient Latin Advent Antiphons will be of interest to any choir seeking imaginative material for Advent or Christmas performances. Within a largely diatonic style, Jac...