CHRIS BRAMMELD MUSIC
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Vocal Works

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As You Like It

Composed: 2006

Voices and jazz ensemble

Texts: William Shakespeare

1. Under the Greenwood Tree
2. Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
3. What Shall He Have That Killed The Deer
4. It Was A Lover And His Lass
5. Hymen's Song

Duration 14 minutes

Commissioned by North Staffordshire Operatic Society

First performance: cond. Chris Brammeld, Trentham Estate, Staffordshire, 10.7.07

Sweet Lovers Love The Swing

Composed: 2006

Three songs from 'As You Like It'

Tenor and piano

Texts: William Shakespeare

1. Under the Greenwood Tree
2. Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
3. It Was A Lover And His Lass

Duration 9 minutes

First performance: Gregory Wiest (tenor), Movimento, Neuhauserstr, Munich, Germany, 5.6.11
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Sounds, And Sweet Airs (Four Songs)

Composed: 2009-11

Four songs from 'The Tempest'

Baritone, clarinet, horn, cello and piano

Texts: William Shakespeare

1. While You Here Do Snoring Lie
2. That When I Waked...
3. I Shall No More To Sea
4. Full Fathom Five

Duration 14 minutes

First performance: Matt Palmer (baritone), University of Sheffield New Music Ensemble, dir. George Nicholson, Firth Hall, Sheffield, 5.4.11

Three Shakespeare Songs

Composed: 2009-12

Medium voice and piano

Texts: William Shakespeare

1. O Mistress Mine
2. Come Away, Death
3. Tell me where is Fancy bred

Duration 8½ minutes

First performance: Greg Hallam (baritone) and Robert Thompson (piano), Hertfordshire Chamber Music Series, Rickmansworth, Herts, 10.5.14

I have always enjoyed setting Shakespeare’s words, and for this short cycle, I decided to write in an English pastoral style of tonality, as a nod to favourite song composers of mine such as Finzi, Gurney and Butterworth. The final song, “Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred”, is from The Merchant of Venice, and was composed first, in 2009. “O Mistress Mine” and “Come Away Death” are taken from Twelfth Night and were composed in 2011 to complete this short cycle. 
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Performance credit: Greg Hallam, Robert Thompson

At Last He Sleeps

Composed: 2011-12

Baritone and piano

Texts: Edward Thomas

1. The Cherry Trees
2. In Memoriam
3. A Private

Duration 7 minutes

First performance: Greg Hallam (baritone) and Robert Thompson (piano), Hertfordshire Chamber Music Series, Rickmansworth, Herts, 10.5.14

2014 marks the centenary of the Great War, a period which, as well as causing devastation and loss of life on an unprecedented scale, also moved artists, musicians and writers to create some of the most moving works ever put to paper. I first came across Edward Thomas's poems through the composer (and poet) Ivor Gurney, and determined to investigate and compose some settings of my own. The brevity, bleakness and directness of Thomas's poems is enough to move anyone to tears, and I have tried to capture these qualities in my music. Apart from one nostalgic and tantalising glimpse of normal life in the third song, these pieces are unashamedly and intentionally pessimistic, reflecting the honesty of the poet's writing. They were first performed in 2014 by Greg Hallam and Robert Thompson.
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Performance credit: Greg Hallam, Robert Thompson

Winter Pass

Composed: 2015; revised 2020

High voice and piano

Texts: Edward Thomas

1. Snow
2. Rain
3. Thaw

Duration 13 minutes

At Last He Sleeps

Composed: 2015

Version for voice and orchestra

Texts: Edward Thomas

1. The Cherry Trees
2. In Memoriam
3. A Private

Duration 8 minutes

Sounds, And Sweet Airs (Be Not Afeard)

Composed: 2016

For soprano and clarinet

Text: William Shakespeare (The Tempest)

​Duration 4 minutes

First performance: Donna Lennard (soprano) and Benjamin Graves (clarinet), Clare Hall, Cambridge, 18.2.17
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Performance credit: Donna Lennard, Benjamin Graves

In Memoriam - five songs

Composed: 2018

Soprano, flute, clarinet in A, violin, cello

Texts (respectively): A. E. Housman, Edward Thomas, Leslie Coulson, Richard Aldington, Willoughby Weaving

1. Here we lie dead
2. In Memoriam
3. War
4. Sunsets
5. Flanders

Duration 14 minutes

First performance: Mimi Doulton (soprano) and Cambridge University New Music Ensemble: Catriona Bourne (flute), Ben Graves (clarinet), Leo Appel (violin), Dan Gilchrist (cello), cond. Patrick Bailey, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 22.11.18
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Performance credit: Mimi Doulton, Catriona Bourne, Ben Graves, Leo Appel, Dan Gilchrist, Patrick Bailey

Marvellous Sweet Music (Songs from The Tempest)

Composed: 2016-20

For 2 sopranos, 2 clarinets, 2 cellos

​Texts: William Shakespeare

1. Come unto these yellow sands
2. Interlude: Be not afeard (part 1)
3. Full fathom five
4. Interlude: Be not afeard (part 2)
5. While you here do snoring lie
6. Interlude: Be not afeard (part 3)
7. I shall no more to sea
8. Epilogue: Be not afeard (part 4)

Duration 22 minutes
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