Magnificat

Magnificat anima mea Dominum.

Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est et sanctum nomen eius.

Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum recordatus misericordiae suae.

Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

Gloria Patri, et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden. For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For He that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him throughout all generations.

He hath shown strength with His arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He, remembering His mercy, hath holpen His servant Israel. As He promised to our forefathers Abraham and his seed for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Alec Roth 1948 - present

Alec Roth, one of our finest living composers, was born near Manchester. A keen singer, he spent his early adult years in various jobs (research scientist, maths teacher, film animator) but as his musical vocation grew, he went to Durham University and specialised in conducting. He accepted an opportunity to study at the Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts and learn gamelan.

Roth wrote this highly original fresh oratorio A Time to Dance ten years ago. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 provided the inspiration for the four themes of the work: Times; Seasons; Love; and Dance.

He turned to a rich selection of predominantly British poets including John Donne, William Blake, Edward Thomas, Christina Rossetti, Aphra Behn and Ovid.

Over a year, he chose and whittled down one hundred poems, which became a group of twenty-nine favourites. Within a four-part structure of Spring Morning; Summer Noon; Autumn Evening; and Winter Night, the work took shape - solo voices soprano, tenor, alto and bass accompany each part.

By the time Roth had settled on the libretto, composing the music came quickly, much of which he feels had being going on subconsciously. He has an extraordinary talent for giving musical life to words of every mood and texture - haunting melodies with unpredictable harmonic progressions and rhythmic energy.

Dance there - what could be a more perfect musical description of words, taken from Yeats’ poem (To a child dancing in the wind)? Roth, in his instructions for singing, gives explicit information about interpretation, ‘Very little tone; mostly consonants, like a stage-whisper: clear, distinct, cold and harsh.’

Nothing could be more heady, even steamy, than Ovid’s poem (Marlowe’s translation) and Roth’s music for In summer’s heat. It has a snake-charming quality provided by the sensual oboe d’ amore. The ‘quick and flighty’ tenor solo Thirsty Fly, (On a fly drinking out of his cup by William Oldys), is beautifully rendered, with Roth’s witty ending.

It would be difficult to write a piece of music about the four seasons without Vivaldi’s aura seeping into the orchestral staves; listen out for influences particularly in Humdrum. For added drama, offstage trumpets pierce through the dusk to herald William Blake’s The Evening Star.

The work ends in joyful ebullience - so much so that finally it is difficult to sing without dancing.