• Tarik O'Regan
  • Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (2001)
    (in memoriam Christopher Rutter)

  • Novello & Co Ltd (World)

Commissioned by Tim Brown and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge through the generosity of anonymous benefactors

Magnificat 8', Nunc Dimittis 6'

All territories except Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden where the copyright is held by Sulasol, Finland.

  • vc[=ssax]
  • SSAATTBB
  • soprano, alto, tenor, bass
  • 14 min

Programme Note

The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were both commissioned, separately, by Timothy Brown for the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. The former was premièred at the 2000 Spitalfields Winter Festival in London, while the latter was composed for a BBC broadcast in 2001. Both are large-scale settings, designed to stand as concert works in their own right or to be paired together for liturgical purposes at Evensong. In each movement I have tried to recreate the Renaissance practice of alternating chant and polyphony from a contemporary perspective. The work is scored for double-choir; soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists and a solo violoncello or soprano saxophone.

PERFORMANCE NOTE:
The ripieno choir forms the main corpus of singers and, although divisi throughout, requires at least two or three performers to a part. The concertante choir should be grouped separately, visibly so, as a quartet of singers (one to a part), or, at most, an octet (two to a part) if there are sufficient forces. Similarly the instrumental soloist should be visibly separated from the ripieno choir, but not grouped with the concertante choir. The work is written without any amplification in mind; however, should circumstances demand, amplification of the instrumental soloist and/or the concertante choir might be deemed suitable.

Tarik O'Regan
New York, November 2004

Media

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis - Variations for Choir: Magnificat
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis - Variations for Choir: Nunc Dimittis

Discography

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