Cecilia McDowall

for SATB double choir unaccompanied Inspired by A. E. Borthwick's painting of the same title, The Presence sets lines from Psalms 18, 27, 36, 112, and 119 mainly concerned with light. While suitable f...

for SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied This Advent carol is based on words from John Donne's Holy Sonnets. McDowall creates a captivating atmosphere as the voices explore a mystical soundworld. The s...

Bring festive radiance to your choral repertoire with this evocative setting of the traditional Marian antiphon "Regina Caeli", published by the prestigious Oxford University Press. Scored for mixed c...

McDowall's setting of Isaac Watts' Cradle Hymn is beautifully tender, coloured by its rich harmonies, suspensions, and chromatic notes. The melodies are complimented by sustained 'oo's and 'ah's and r...

Written in an a cappella style with scat accompaniment, A Tree is a Song is a joyful celebration of the affinity between trees and how wisdom can be passed on 'as a melody from tree to tree'. McDowall...

This solemn yet dramatic work sets a traditional Latin prayer lauding the Virgin Mary, with intense melodic lines that are at once steadfast and arresting, reflecting the mystery of the immaculate con...

Make we joy now in this fest is a lively and vibrant setting of a 15th-century macaronic text. An eminently memorable and energetic chorus frames expressive verses that vividly illuminate the medieval...

From the collection For Him all Stars, 'Cradle Song' is a wistful 3/4-time Christmas lullaby which sets a text by William Blake. Scored for SA and piano, it features gentle but persistently discordant...

The charming and vibrant melody of this attractive carol for choir and piano glides above harmonies that are almost entirely diatonic, but whose originality and frequent passing dissonances mean that...

This delightful work brings together arrangements of four well-loved folksongs: 'Green Bushes', 'The Rambling Sailor', 'The Crystal Spring', and 'O, No John!'. A Fancy of Folksongs can be accompanied...

Commissioned by Roderick Williams, this characterful trilogy of songs sets poems by John Greening that present a vibrant, modern take on each of Schubert's song cycles.

The organ part is supportive, but full of interest and not merely accompanimental. Particularly memorable are the jaunty Gloria, with its constantly shifting time-signatures, and the haunting Agnus De...

'Everyday Wonders': The Girl from Aleppo tells the extraordinary story of Nujeen Mustafa, a Kurdish teenager with cerebral palsy forced by war to flee her home and embark on an arduous journey to Euro...

This is an uplifting and expressive setting of a fun, descriptive text by Christie Dickason that characterizes the sky in an imaginative way. The compelling melodies are underpinned by a dynamic piano...

for SSATB and organ This anthem commemorates the First World War. It sets a stark English text by Dr Joseph Spence which conveys the relentless hardship of life in the Trenches, alongside Latin words...

for SSATB and piano. This work sets three texts from 'Poem of the North', a collaboration celebrating 50 years of the Northern Poetry Library. The first movement is flowing and forward moving, while t...

In this musical exploration of meteorology Cecilia McDowall sets a fascinating libretto by Kate Wakeling. It is inspired by three important figures in this field of science: Anders Celsius, Eunice New...

The charming and vibrant original melody of this attractive carol glides above harmonies that are almost entirely diatonic, but whose inventiveness and frequent passing dissonances mean that predictab...

Setting excerpts from the poem 'Wonder' by the metaphysical poet Thomas Traherne, The skies in their magnificence captures the poem's sense of majesty and expansiveness. Long phrases and expressive dy...

Dieses Werk ist inspiriert von dem bewegenden, nocturneartigen Gedicht 'Der Nachbar' von Rainer Maria Rilke. Seine unheimliche, elegische Stimmung durchdringt die Dunkelheit. Es ist ein meditatives Du...

A Crescent Ship' sets the evocative poem 'A Ship, an Isle, a Sickle Moon' by James Elroy Flecker, exploring the dreamlike images that flow through the darkness of a Mediterranean night. The piece is i...

Radnor Songs' is a 15-minute, six-movement song cycle for solo soprano and piano. Composed by Cecilia McDowall, with text by Simon Mundy, this piece celebrates the history and archaeology of the Radno...

The patron saint of music is honoured in Cecilia McDowall's exuberant setting of Kate Wakeling's lyrics based on 'The Life of Saint Cecilia' in Jacobus de Voragine's 1275 The Golden Legend or Lives Of...

Taken from a suite of three pieces by Cecilia McDowall called Lonely Hearts, composed in 2005, this is a light and energetic setting of a whimsical text by Christie Dickason about a lonely hearts colu...