Gabriel Jackson

Sanctum est verum lumen

Vocal scores on hire

Forces or Category: 40-part unaccompanied SATBarB

for 40-part choir (8 x SATBarB)
Sanctum est verum lumen was written as a companion piece to Spem in alium to celebrate the Tallis quincentenary. Jackson explores a variety of ways of combining the forty voices: there are massive contrapuntal tuttis, antiphonal exchanges between groups of singers, huge monolithic chords, and an 'über gimel' for the eight sopranos alone. The piece is essentially about light, and the text, though funereal in origin, is radiantly optimistic and invites a variety of ways of evoking that sense of light in music - from gentle luminosity to fiercely dazzling brightness.

Sanctum est verum lumen

Vocal scores on hire

Gabriel Jackson

Description

Programme Notes:

Sanctum est verum lumen was commissioned by the Lichfield Festival for the Tallis quingentenary and was first performed by Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, in Lichfield Cathedral on July 14th 2005.

For me, Thomas Tallis is the greatest of all English composers and his richly varied output - the early florid Votive Antiphons, the simple 4-part Anglican anthems, the plangently expressive imitative counterpoint of later pieces like the Lamentations - have been a

Sanctum est verum lumen

Vocal scores on hire

Gabriel Jackson

Composer Information