Winterfold

For mezzo soprano and chamber ensemble (including bass clarinet in B flat), with words by George Mackay Brown.
Winterfold was first performed in January 1987 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, by The Fires ofLondonwith Mary Thomas, conducted by the composer.

This is a setting of the George Mackay Brown poem ‘The Keeper of the Midnight Gate’, from his collection ‘Winterfold’. The work is based on the Liber Usualis Christmasplainsong‘Hodie nobis caelorum Rex’, but in a more interesting Portugese variant, from a manuscript source.

Score (miniature). Duration c. 11mins.