In the Bleak Midwinter | Fergus Byett скачать в хорошем качестве

In the Bleak Midwinter | Fergus Byett

In the Bleak Midwinter (SATB) by Fergus Byett Text by Christina Rossetti - 'A Christmas Carol' (1872) Recorded 16 August 2025 at St. Luke's Church, Remuera, Auckland NZ Sopranos: Kezia Schuitemaker, Celia Aspey-Gordon Altos: Alanah Jones, Dilys Fong Tenors: Ivan Zhang, Matthew Spooner Basses: Takerei Komene, Blake Scanlen, Robin Park Audio recorded, edited and mastered by Paul McGlashan (Classic Sound Ltd) Video recorded and edited by The Dispersion Group This project was made possible by my amazing crew of Boosted donors - thank you all so much for your generosity. Tauranga Civic Choir Shirley Arnold Anonymous Robin Olds Anonymous Brian Dingwall Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Walkie Talkies Taupo Taupō Midday Concert Marg Gilbert Val Veitch Don Hopkins Patricia Green Anonymous Allan Pearson Angela Hoy Lyndall Hermitage Brandon C Donald Trott Barbara Cook Sandra Gillies Marg Brewerton Humphrey Pullon Eryl Raymond Graham Dainty Sue Pickering Vivianne and Bruce Flintoff Graham & Marie-Thérèse Borland Sue Truman Anonymous Greg Fahey M B Anonymous Merv HUNT Keri Wilson Grace Francis Anonymous Anonymous Anne Cleaver Morandini Family Kath Barnsley Corinne Law Schuitemaker Thanks also to Rachael Griffiths-Hughes and the St. Peter's Cathedral Choir for debuting this piece back in 2022. _______ Growing up in New Zealand, Rossetti's carol was never a fixture of the summer Christmases I experienced; the wintry text perhaps just a bit too jarring with everyone wearing shorts and a t-shirt on their way to the beach. The settings of Darke and Holst quickly became favourites of mine once I discovered them in my teens, and it was from these two settings that I was inspired to compose my own, beginning in 2017 while I was still at school. It wasn't until VOCES8 announced their inaugural Composition Competition a few years later that I found the impetus to complete the piece. Obviously my entry didn't win, but it was taken up by the St. Peter's Cathedral Choir (Hamilton, NZ) and premiered in December 2022. Since then it has gone through several revisions and edits, culminating in the version which we recorded in August 2025. The opening phrase of the piece marks a clear break from Darke and Holst, both of whom emphasise the maternal warmth of the Virgin Mother and the meekness of the Christ-child throughout their strophic settings, which are both in major keys. These elements of maternal love and warmth are heard in my setting's third and fourth verses, whereas the other verses are generally centred in the minor mode and focus on other images from the text, such as the frostiness of the scene set in the opening verse, and the humble devotion of the narrator in the final verse - 'What can I give Him, poor as I am?'