Description
Johnson, Sebastian: Ring out, ye bells!
Ref
CN83
Categories
Choral Music
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Choral Now
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By
Sebastian Johnson
SATB and organ (with divisions)
Sebastian Johnson’s three-minute choral flourish for SATB and organ, announcing the birth of Christ through the music of bells, is a perfect opener for Advent and Christmas carol services. Words by Paul Laurence Dunbar, pioneering nineteenth-century African-American poet and friend of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, exhort the bellringers to ever greater fervour in heralding the new King. Singers acclaim the holy mystery through joyful harmonies, infused with a time-honoured four-note chiming motif. From Byrd to Britten, the English tradition of bell pieces is fondly recalled, and all is expertly handled with an uncommon touch for choral sonority and word painting. A calmer, telling moment in contemplation of the divine mercy only briefly impedes the current of excitement, flowing undiminished to a rousing conclusion.
Ring out, ye bells!
was commissioned by The Musicians’ Company for its annual carol service, and first performed by the choir of St Michael’s Cornhill, under conductor Jonathan Rennert, on 15 December 2023.
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