SONNET XL

‘Sonnet XL’ was commissioned by the Brighton Chamber Choir for their Jubilee year summer concert in July 2015, ‘Sonnet and Song’, which centred of the theme of Shakespeare and the Renaissance era, therefore I felt that setting a Shakespeare Sonnet to music would be a great musical challenge, and of course would also tie in with the theme of the concert. The reason for choosing Shakespeare’s Sonnet XL in particular was because of the rich and ambiguous narrative which provided so much scope for real expression and emotion within the composition; I felt as though I could experiment with different harmonic textures to really bring out the intensity of the text, with the tone of the music directly reflecting and changing with the tone of the text. For this piece, I didn’t want to base it around a single recurring motif; I wanted to literally illuminate the text which goes on an emotional and philosophical journey, and sculpt the story of Sonnet XL in music. The composition is written for SATB chorus and Solo Soprano.
This is the live recording of the premiere of ‘Sonnet XL’ performed by the Brighton Chamber Choir on Saturday 11th July 2015 at St Margaret’s Church in the beautiful village of Rottingdean, East Sussex. Soloists are Rachel Farago, Dan Johnson and Rueben James. The choir was conducted by the Musical Director, Jane Money, and the performance was recorded live by Gareth Lucking.