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Divers Winged Creatures

Divers Winged Creatures is a 5 movement work of 25 minutes’ duration for a mixed a cappella choir setting a text adapted from the medieval Aberdeen Bestiary by Philip Goulding.

Divers Winged Creatures is a 5 movement work of 25 minutes’ duration for a mixed a cappella choir setting a text adapted from the medieval Aberdeen Bestiary by Philip Goulding. The piece was awarded second place in the 2008 Mitteldeutscherrundfunk Choir International Composition Competition, from amongst more than 50 entrants.

The work is a fusion of contemporary choral techniques, such as crowd noises, shouting and babbling with 'early music' techniques such as canon and organum. As well as these specifically musical techniques which were aimed at reaching across historical periods, there was a strong element of music theatre to the piece. In Movement 4 ‘Of the Blackbird’, a soprano soloist takes the part of the blackbird/woman, while a chorus of men’s voices .repesent St Benedict, whom the blackbird/woman attempts to seduce.

The piece was reviewed in the Leipziger Volkszeitung review by Peter Korfmacher (review translated by Mick Martin)

“A surreal magic hovers over this work, located somewhere between a witty madrigal, organum, and impressionism….The British composer …makes splendid use of the devices and little tricks of the ancients, builds layer upon layer of polyphony, and lashes his piece tightly to the here and now - with noises, scintillating harmonies and flexible metre.”

The piece was first performed in the Peterskirche, Leipzig, in April 2008 by the MDR Choir,, and subsequently broadcast on the MDR network. It received a further performances by the Hallenser Madrigalisten in August that year.