Description
for T. solo, SATB (with divisions), and orchestra The World Imagined explores themes around the smallness of man, the apprehension of the divine in everything around us, and our ecstatic communion within that vastness. The powerfully evocative texts invite deep spiritual contemplation, and are drawn from diverse sources ranging from an early Latin hymn by St Ambrose to contemporary poems by Doris Kareva and Kenneth White. The work is structured in five continuous movements, with a tenor soloist joining the choir in the second, fourth (where they have a melismatic extended solo passage), and fifth. Profound words by Wallace Stevens--'How high that highest candle lights the dark. Out of this same light, out of the central mind, We make a dwelling in the evening air, In which being there together is enough.'--draw this monumental work to a close, with wind and strings leading us to a final chord that resounds with quiet, hopeful optimism at the end of this transformative musical experience.
About the Author
One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.
Reviews
Jackson's choice of poetry proved not just revealing, but at best electrifying. So, too, did his ever-shifting, often delicate, instrumentation - cleverly lucid, fine-lined, quite often scherzoid, indeed mischievous. [...] The World Imagined is a massive musical achievement. * Roderic Dunnett, Church Times, August 2021 *
Jackson's selection of texts seems inspired: no matter that the poems are sometimes difficult to understand; the imagery is often rich and pregnant with possibilities. As I hoped would be the case, his music enhances the words and gives them an added dimension. * John Quinn, Seen and Heard International, July 2021 *
Interest lies in Jackson's contrasting of musical and philosophical extremes, where the grandeur of the universe, what Leopardi called the "supernal silence" of the sky and its potential for heaven, invokes both awe and the realisation that mans place in this world is as a mere grain of sand. * Rian Evans, The Guardian, July 2021 *
Book Information
ISBN 9780193540200
Author Gabriel Jackson
Page Count 120
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 368g
Dimensions(mm) 297mm * 210mm * 11mm
About the Author
One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.
Reviews
Jackson's choice of poetry proved not just revealing, but at best electrifying. So, too, did his ever-shifting, often delicate, instrumentation - cleverly lucid, fine-lined, quite often scherzoid, indeed mischievous. [...] The World Imagined is a massive musical achievement. * Roderic Dunnett, Church Times, August 2021 *
Jackson's selection of texts seems inspired: no matter that the poems are sometimes difficult to understand; the imagery is often rich and pregnant with possibilities. As I hoped would be the case, his music enhances the words and gives them an added dimension. * John Quinn, Seen and Heard International, July 2021 *
Interest lies in Jackson's contrasting of musical and philosophical extremes, where the grandeur of the universe, what Leopardi called the "supernal silence" of the sky and its potential for heaven, invokes both awe and the realisation that mans place in this world is as a mere grain of sand. * Rian Evans, The Guardian, July 2021 *
Book Information
ISBN 9780193540200
Author Gabriel Jackson
Page Count 120
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 368g
Dimensions(mm) 297mm * 210mm * 11mm
