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Giles Swayne : Magnificat I


written for Francis Grier and the Choir of Christ Church Oxford
Publisher Novello & Co Ltd
Category
Chorus a cappella / Chorus plus 1 instrument
Year Composed 1982
Duration
5 Minutes
Chorus (SSAATTBB)
Availability
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Full Score(s) NOV290590 Full Score(s) Not available

Programme Note

Giles Swayne: Magnificat


My Magnificat was written in 1982 in response to a commission from Christ Church College, Oxford, whose choir first performed it under their conductor Francis Grier in July of that year.

At that time I was still reeling from the impact of my belated discovery of African music. In the previous year I had spent two months in Senegal and the Gambia, researching and making recordings of the music of the Jola people of that region. One of the songs I collected during this trip was a work-song which I recorded in a small village called Badem Karantaba, about thirty miles south-east of Ziguinchor in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. I used the opening call of this song to begin the Magnificat; it returns as a refrain towards the end.

© GS

Reviews

  • Swayne's 'Magnificat' with a cappella writing is notable for its rhythmic setting of the words - highly staccato so that at times they seem to bubble like a furiously perking coffee pot.
    Glenn Giffin, The Denver Post, 12/12/1992


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