6.
ANDREW DOWNES PUBLISHED
WORKS
CANTATAS/ORATORIO (continued)
Soloist, choir and string
orchestra, with piano duet and percussion:-
A SAINT LUKE PASSION Opus 50 (1992) 40'
View Score
The story of the death and resurrection of Christ set to music
for baritone soloist, SATB choir, piano duet, percussion (2
players) and string orchestra.
Commissioned by the Wolverhampton Civic Choir for first
performance on 3rd April 1993, with Brian Rayner Cook and the
Orchestra da Camera, under the direction of David Hart.
'Two triumphant premieres in three days! After Thursday's
success of his eloquent Third Symphony, Andrew Downes heard his
deeply affecting St Luke Passion given on Saturday by the
Wolverhampton Civic Choir (who commissioned it) in the elegant
and accommodating Parish Church.
'Scored for string orchestra, percussion and piano duet, the
work also calls for a baritone soloist singing the words of
Christ.
'Brian Rayner Cook performed with gentle sincerity, quietly
commanding in these grateful melodic lines. Many of Downes'
well-loved fingerprints are here, not least the music circling
round a note before coming to rest on it, and now, too, his
recent, striking discovery of independent multi-tempi.
'... the music's drama as it progressed to a moving sense of
exaltation touched us all.'
THE BIRMINGHAM POST
In November 1993 Andrew Downes was invited by the Crane Concert
Choir of the University of New York to conduct them in the first
American performance of this work. The choir has a tradition for
inviting composers to conduct their works with them. Composers to
be invited have included Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland.
Performed for the 10th anniversary of the Adrian Boult Hall,
Birmingham by Bryan Rayner Cook with the Birmingham Conservatoire
Choir and Orchestra conducted by Steven Lloyd.
'Judas Mercator Pessimus' and 'Tenebrae Factae
Sunt' from the work were performed at King's Chapel, Boston, Massachusetts, on
August 22nd 2006 by the Millennium Scholars directed by Paula Downes.
Soloist, choir and brass band:-
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON Opus 19 (1980) 15'
View Score
Cantata for baritone solo, SATB choir and brass band. Sacred text
compiled by Cynthia Downes from the First Book of Kings and the
Second Book of Chronicles, describing the building of the first
Temple in Jerusalem.
Commissioned by the Birmingham Festival Choral Society to
commemorate the restoration of Birmingham Cathedral, and first
performed by the choir with John King, baritone soloist, and the
Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band under the direction of Jeremy
Patterson, on 29th November 1980. Performed at Birmingham
Conservatoire in 1982 and again by the BFCS in 1990.
'...most impressive...a welcome addition to the repertory.'
THE MUSICAL TIMES
'It was enthusiastically received by the audience and it is hoped
that the work can be repeated by other music societies.'
THE BRITISH BANDSMAN
'...music of grand occasion, written with dramatic point and a
feeling for rich, near barbaric Old Testament colour.'
THE BIRMINGHAM POST
ORATORIO:-
NEW DAWN An Oratorio in Two Parts Opus 70 (1999) 90'
View Score
Oratorio for SATB soloists, SATB chorus and symphony orchestra
including guitar ensemble.
Six movements: 'A Spirit is Departing'; 'Journey' (Orchestral
Tone Poem); 'Awaiting Dawn' (Song for unaccompanied chorus); 'Summer
Dawn'; 'Kitchi-Manitou'(Orchestral Tone Poem); 'Invocation'.
The texts are 19th century translations of traditional poetry
from various tribes of North American Indians, predominantly of
the New Mexico area. Together the poems form a story about the
life-cycle of the Earth from the death to the re-birth of a soul.
The Oratorio is a celebration of this natural cycle, and is
dedicated to all those societies and individuals who are content
to see themselves as part of Mother Earth, rather than seeking to
own and, eventually, destroy her.
Commissioned by Birmingham Conservatoire to celebrate the coming
of the year 2000. First performed on 18th February 2000 in the
Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, by soloists Debbie Bennet (soprano),
Louise Brownbill (alto), Tom Solomon (tenor), Lawrence Broomfield
(baritone), the Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and
the University of Central England Chorus conducted by Steven
Lloyd.
'Andrew Downes... is a prolific composer as well as a popular
Head of the Conservatoire's School of Composition and Creative
Studies. His musical style which often embraces traits from non
European cultures, has an appealing immediacy and considerable
attractiveness. "It's very modern, but so beautiful",
was a remark I heard during the interval. The performance was
certainly a triumph...'
THE BIRMINGHAM POST
A video recording made of the first performance is available from
Lynwood Music.
The second performance of this work took place in King's
College Chapel, Cambridge, on 27th October 2001. Soloists Paula
Downes, Timothy Mead, Richard Butler and William Gaunt with the
Millennium Scholars Chorus and Orchestra and the Birmingham
Conservatoire Guitar Ensemble were conducted by Stephen Cleobury.
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