Voicing: Soprano Solo, SATB and cello or violin

Duration: 5' 10"

Written in: 2023

A setting for soprano solo, cello and choir (or violin) of the fantastical poem The Song of Wandering Aengus by Irish poet W.B.Yeats. An atmospheric work, with a Celtic feel, combining a strong melody and soaring climaxes.

A moving-score video (using digital choir sounds) is available, as is a video of the first performance - see the last two images above.

Voicing: SATB unaccompanied

Duration: 2' 15"

Written in: 2023

A tuneful and playful setting of the Edward Lear poem featuring a relaxed style and plenty of humour.

Sing it at an animal-themed concert - or any time you want the choir to hoot and meow!

A moving-score video is available using AI-based voices - select the final image above.

Requirements: SATB choir, children's choir and instrumental ensemble consisting of piano, double bass, flute and percussion.

Duration: 20 - 25 minutes

PLEASE NOTE PRICE IS FOR A DIGITAL COPY IN PDF FORMAT PLUS LICENCE - CONTACT US IF PRINTED COPIES ARE REQUIRED

"a valuable addition to the repertoire" - The Bach Choir

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, an entertainment in seven movements, is a setting of Robert Browning's poem about the legend of the mysterious piper.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin was winner of The Bach Choir's Composition Competition in 2016. It received its premiere at St. John's, Smith Square in June 2017 as the climax of the choir's Outreach Programme.

See Resources tab for a list of available supporting resources and a link to the children's practice tracks and score.

A song about life. For solo voice or unison voices and piano with original words by the composer

Dur: 3m 40s

Written in: 2022

A video using an AI-based voice is available - select the final image above

Voicing: Solo voice, SATB, SSA, or 2-part mixed voices, and piano

Duration: 4' 11"

A comic song with an important message about the joy of choral singing. Original words by the composer. See the virtual choir video created by Leatherhead Choral Society, Epsom Male Voice Choir and Vaughan Williams Singers.

This song would be perfect for an event designed to celebrate a choir's anniversary or as part of a recruitment drive.

You might also enjoy Sing As One

Voicing: TTBB and piano

Duration: 2' 55"

Written in: April 2023

A song of farewell to an old friend and comrade, with words by the composer.

"When the sun was high in the noon-day sky

He sang as walked on the dusty path;

And when darkness fell like a sounding bell,

He sang to the moon and stars."

A free Inspection Copy is available

Voicing: 2-part lower voices, or 2-part mixed voices, and piano

Duration: 2' 22"

A simple but effective arrangement of the traditional Scottish song.

Voicing: SATB unaccompanied

Duration: 3' 40"

A setting of Rupert Brooke's famous poem which begins "If I should die, think only this of me". the music weaves contrapuntal lines around the text, bringing out the tenderness and sadness of the poem. 

A full-length setting of one of the Old Testament's most glittering treasures and the world's most beautiful and mysterious love poem.

The Song of Songs is scored for Soprano and tenor soli, SATB chorus, two pianos and percussion, (making it a great companion piece to the ensemble version of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana)

Duration: 40 minutes

Voicing: SSAATTBB a cappella

Duration: 4' 56"

A dream-like setting of Wiliam Butler Yeats' enigmatic, surreal poem based on Celtic legend. This work is more suitable for experienced choirs.

Voicing: SATB and piano

Duration: 2' 30"

An arrangement of the famous movement from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, set to a new light-hearted text.

Voicing: TTBB, or solo/unison voices, and piano

Duration: 1' 35"

A setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley's short, wintry 2-verse ballad which begins;

A widow bird sate mourning for her Love
Upon a wintry bough;
The frozen wind crept on above,
The freezing stream below.

Voicing: SATB a cappella

Duration:4' 07"

A tender setting of poem 38 from A Shropshire Lad by A E Housman.

The winds out of the west land blow,

        My friends have breathed them there;

Warm with the blood of lads I know

        Comes east the sighing air.

This Housman setting makes a good companion piece to White in the Moon.

Voicing: SATB unaccompanied

Duration: 4' 30"

Written in: 2022

A setting for unaccompanied mixed choir of a poem by Sara Teasdale.

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

A moving score video is available using AI-based vocal sounds - select the final image above.

Voicing: Unison upper or lower voices, and piano

Duration: 2' 10"

A lyrical setting of a beautifully simple romantic poem by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). Suitable for concert use or for weddings.

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.
But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.

A moving-score video is available - select the final image above

Voicing: Soprano solo and SATB, (or SSATB without solo) a cappella

Duration: 2' 40"

A version of a song from Verses From Panthea arranged for soprano solo and SATB, or for SATB divisi without solo. The work from which it is taken is a set of 4 settings for unaccompanied choir  of verses from Oscar Wilde's early transcendental poem Panthea (1881). (See under Longer Works)

Verses from Panthea received an honourable mention ("exemplary and deserving of special recognition") in the Boston Choral Ensemble Commission Competition 2017.

The final image above is taken from a performance by Vaughan Williams Singers.

See also: Verses from Panthea

Voicing: SATB, SAB, SA, TB, or unison voices, and piano

Duration: 3' 25"

A klezmer-inspired arrangement of a traditional Yiddish folksong - a riddle song - with a wonderful melody. Sudden key and tempo changes help to make this song a real crowd-pleaser. An idiomatic English translation and pronunciation guide are included.

You may also like:

Papir iz Dokh Vays

Sha, Shtil

Instrumentation: Solo piano

Although he is best known as a choral composer, Ian’s piano writing embodies the same characteristics as his writing for voices - carefully structured, approachable and inventive.

This set of two short Consolations is suitable for all intermediate and advanced pianists.

Voicing: SA and piano

Duration: 3' 30"

Written in: 2024

A setting for upper voices of an unsettling poem by Christina Rossetti. The poem, which takes the form of a series of questions and answers, is deliberately ambiguous, but deals, with the lightest of touches, on the nature of death and the afterlife.

"Does the road wind up-hill all the way?

Yes, to the very end...."

An inspection copy is available for instant download

Instrumentation: string quartet

A standalone quartet movement. The title of the quartet is from Darwin's Origin of Species and refers also to the thematic variation within the music.

Parts available on request

Duration about 6m.

Voicing: SATB a cappella

Duration: 10'

...we all think that the music is wonderful...your music is making rehearsals a pleasure...I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have found some deep-thinking secular music of such beauty. - Thomas Lydon, MD Harlequin Chamber Choir.

A set of 4 pieces for mixed voices a cappella, each a setting of a verse from Oscar Wilde's early transcendental poem Panthea (1881). The movements are:

• 1. We are Resolved into the Supreme Air (2' 40")
• 2. Earth's Giant Heart (2' 20") - also available separately
• 3. Thy Mouth a Rose Shall Be (2' 40") - also available separately in a version for Soprano solo and SATB
• 4. We Shall Not Die (2' 20")

Each song may be performed on its own or as part of the set. 

This work received an honourable mention ("exemplary and deserving of special recognition") in the Boston Choral Ensemble Commission Competition 2017.

Verses from Panthea was first performed by Harlequin Chamber Choir conducted by Thomas Lydon on 10th June 2018.

Voicing: SATB and piano

Duration: 4' 23"

Written in: 2023

A song about the magic of song. With words by the composer.

Inspection copy available

Voicing: SSA, SATB, S(A)(B) or TTBB, and piano

Duration: 3' 52"

A tender, original and moving song, in an approachable style, with text by the composer, about loss.

Suitable for both experienced and less experienced choirs, and particularly appropriate for Remembrance-themed concerts.

A video featuring the SSA version is available using AI-based voices - click on the final image above to view.

Voicing: SATB, or 2-part upper voices, and piano

Duration: 3' 10"

On 14th March 2020 social media featured video of quarantined Italians singing to each other from their balconies. The poet and librettist Euan Tait shared one of these and attached a poem which he had written. I found it moving and asked his permission to set it to music, which he generously gave. This song, finished on 21st March, was the result.

Click on the moving score link above to hear an electronic 'performance' of the work.

Whilst in lockdown an amateur chamber choir, The Vaughan WIlliams Singers, created a virtual choir video of the song which is available on YouTube here.

Voicing: SSAATTBB a cappella

Duration: 3' 20"

A highly singable 8-part setting of Lord Byron's gloomy, folk-like poem in a deceptively pop-like style.

A moving-score video is available - select the final image above.

(N.B. Not to be confused with "A-Roving" which is a folk-song arrangement)

Voicing: SATB and piano

Duration: 4' 15"

Written in: 2022

A setting of William Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring". Wordsworth's poem was written during the French Revolution and, alongside the pastoral imagery inspired by the coming of spring, he dwells sadly on "what man has made of man".

The music reflects this dual sensibility with a bittersweet melody and deceptively simple harmonies.

A moving-score video is available - select the final image above.

Voicing: TTBB and piano or SATB and piano

Duration: 2' 44"

A setting of an poem by Thomas Hardy - an unusually sunny, joyful text for the often rather gloomy author. The text refers to Hardy's first visit to Cornwall in March 1870 when he met his first wife Emma. "Lyonnesse" is the name of a fictional county in Arthurian legend.

This work won 3rd prize in the Cornwall International Male Choral Festival composition competition 2018. Adjudicator Alan Bullard called it: "A captivating setting with an interesting piano part and well-shaped voice parts which responds well to the changing moods of the poetry."

A moving score video of the TTBB version is available - select the final image above. And a free inspection copy of the TTBB version is also available from the Inspection Copies page.

Voicing: SATB and piano

Duration: 3' 30"

A rumbustious setting of a ribald Sussex folk song. Great fun for choirs and audiences.