James MacMillan

Sun-Dogs

Five-movement work for mixed chorus a cappella with mutiple divisi and semi-chorus.A setting of a poem by Michael Symmons Roberts (English) with Latin text from the mass and an English traditional rhyme. Co-commissioned in 2006 by the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, ZaterdagMatinee, the Three Choirs Festival and Soundstreams Canada. Recording: BIS SACD 1719, by Netherlands Radio Choir, conducted by Celso Antunes. 'The music itself was a revelation: a mesmeric blending of traditional and contemporary elements ... a choral array of chanting and whispering, of shouting and speaking, of whistling and controlling disparate lines so that they wondrously merged ... The co-creator of Sun-Dogs was British poet Michael Symmons Roberts who addresses theological and mythical symbolisms. Dogs, beggars, suns and stars turn into metaphors ... The whole settled upon the ears like magic ...' Indiana Herald-Times. Suitable for advanced standard choirs.