Bird Raptures - 3-Part Songs for SATB divisi a cappella

Bird Raptures, a set of three pieces which draw inspiration stylistically from twentieth-century partsong, was composed for St Martin's Voices in spring 2025, especially for Lucy Walker s debut album (Resonus, RES10361). The text for The Nightingale, Christina Rossetti's poem Bird Raptures, from which the set takes its title, lulls the listener with a lilting metre, and describes the captivating power of a nightingale s song to connote both sorrow and joy. This setting is an invented folksong, beginning with a wistful soprano solo before easing into a full choir verse. The same melody is re-harmonised twice, featuring both sinewy, jazz-influenced chromaticism and expansive harmonic warmth. In Twilight, Sara Teasdale's text evokes a deep sense of yearning and distance by repeating the words 'calling, calling'. Rather than mimicking birdsong, the choir personifies the calling bird with a soaring but melancholy refrain. Overlapping cross-rhythms suggest conversation and tension between the voices, and the tragically inconclusive poetry is reflected by the choral texture fading, unresolved, to a single voice at the song's close. The innocence and unbridled joy of Coleridge s Answer to a child's question provide a light-hearted conclusion to this set. With flamboyant rubato and exaggerated dynamics, the piece builds to a theatrical climax, before drawing the listener into the final line, "And my Love loves me!" in whimsical unison. The set would suit a confident choir as a versatile concert feature. These pieces may be performed as a set in the order they are presented in this score, or individually.