Gaudete, gaudete! (a Christmas carol)

David Bruce-Payne and Richard Hall now run the Occasional Singers, and asked if I would like to write a carol for the choir's Advent concert in early December [2014]. The venue is St Mary's church which of course has a fabulous acoustic. I spent much time not composing anything, and was quite undecided about what to choose, subject-wise. The time came when I needed to produce something, so I delved happily into that treasure trove of plainsong inspiration, to pick out this superb melody. My setting is not academically rigorous in its 16th century pastiche writing style, but that is the sound world I had in mind for my music. I set the text macaronically - that is, alternating Latin and English. "Gaudete" means ""Rejoice".

This "performance" is created using EastWest brass sounds. I used to love the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble sound, and this is not entirely dissimilar: