Cancelled: Platinum Choral Workshop - The Deer's Cry

In this workshop we immerse ourselves in music which evokes peaceful contemplation. At the centre of the programme is Arvo Pärt’s The deer’s cry, which is a setting of words based on the poem St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Pärt is known for his holy minimalist style, and particularly for his technique of tintinnabuli, which brings out the bell-like quality of a triad. Pärt is also inspired by Gregorian Chant, evident in the soprano line. Alongside The deer’s cry, we will enjoy evocative works by Lotti, Holst and Harris. The openings of both Lotti’s Crucifixus and Holst’s Nunc dimittis are uncannily similar in their use of slowly evolving dissonant chords, gradually ascending in pitch as the voices enter from bottom to top. Bring us, O Lord God is a double-choir setting by Harris of words by the renaissance metaphysical poet John Donne. Harris’s music effortlessly evokes Donne’s radiant picture of heaven, with an exquisite chord progression throughout the Amen.