Now I have known, O Lord

Vocal score

Forces or Category: SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied

New Horizons

for SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
This anthem is set to a text by the 10th-century Sufi mystic, Al-Junaid. For the most part, the mood is ...

'Music of the spheres.' Choir & Organ

Now I have known, O Lord

Vocal score

Description

for SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
This anthem is set to a text by the 10th-century Sufi mystic, Al-Junaid. For the most part, the mood is intimate and introspective; intertwining, whispered melodies, sometimes in free time, alternate with quiet homophony. There is a moment of soaring, unrestrained ecstasy towards the end of the piece before it draws to a hushed conclusion. Suitable for a variety of occasions, this is beautiful, challenging music for serious choirs.

Programme Notes:

For this very special commission I wanted to write a piece that reflected the particular character of the Vasari Singers - transparent, refined and meticulous, but also possessed of great fervour and virtuosity. Jeremy Backhouse proposed a text that was sacred, but not liturgical, which led me to the great Sufi mystic Al-Junaid. Couched in language that is as erotic as it is spiritual, the text seemed to demand a setting of great inwardness. The piece is largely restrained and intimate; intertwined melismatic tendrils of melody alternate with hushed homophony and self-communing murmurings, rising to a climax of fierce brightness and intensity before sinking back to the meditative calm of the opening.

Now I Have Known, O Lord was commissioned by Jeremy Backhouse and the Vasari Singers for their 25th Anniversary with funds provided by the Leche Trust and was first performed by the Vasari Singers, directed by Jeremy Backhouse, at St John's, Smith Square, London on May 15th 2005.
Copyright Gabriel Jackson

'Music of the spheres.' Choir & Organ

Now I have known, O Lord

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Composer Information

Gabriel Jackson (b.1962)

One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.

Gabriel Jackson's website

'Music of the spheres.' Choir & Organ

Now I have known, O Lord

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Reviews and Awards

"The (musical) divisions are manifold, but complexities dissolve into ecstatic simplicities. Music of the spheres." - Peter Dale, Choir & Organ, January 08

"Jackson's setting is reflective and contemplative, and immensely effective . . . the still, quite passages around pages 13 and 14 are magical; this is definitely a piece worth working for." - Jonathan Wikeley, Music Teacher, February 08

"Now I have known seems subtly to reflect its Arabic source in rhythmic roulades and modal touches. It leads the choir into free heterophony (significantly on the words 'my tongue hath talked' and 'disunion') but comes together for a notably thoughtful and moving conclusion." - Rosemary Broadbent, Church Music Quarterly, December 07