Programme Notes

I wrote this short anthem as my entry to the 2020 Schellhorn Prize for Sacred Music Composition, alongside my good friend Dominic Veall (who, for the record, produced the winning entry).

The anthem describes the elation that the Virgin Mary had upon the annunciation. The music is in the G mixolydian mode - one which I particularly enjoy the resonance of - and I paid particular attention to the climactic phrase "Psallat altitudo caeli" (Sing to the heights of heaven), where the tessiturae of all the voices goes high to bring home the effect.