For Even Such is Time
4:30pm, Sat, 8 Nov 2025
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The programme opens with Renaissance gems by Gibbons, Howells, and Tomkins whose madrigals and part-songs contemplate the brevity of life and the pursuit of true love. These early works set the tone for a journey that moves through the lyrical vivacity of Finzi’s My Spirit Sang All Day, the nocturnal hush of Britten’s The Evening Primrose, and the autumnal melancholy of Coleridge-Taylor’s Summer is Gone.
Contemporary voices join the musical melange with Bob Chilcott’s hypnotic Even Such Is Time and Stephen Paulus’ beloved American anthem The Road Home. Elgar’s My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land and Sullivan’s The Long Day Closes offer Romantic depth and quiet farewell, while Harris’ Bring Us O Lord God closes the first half with spiritual grandeur. Following the interval, the programme turns introspective with Judith Bingham’s Distant Thunder, a haunting reimagining of Parry’s My Soul, There is a Country, which leads into Parry’s Songs of Farewell, a masterwork composed during the First World War that sets texts by Vaughan, Donne, and others in music of transcendent beauty and emotional weight. The choir will be led by their new Musical Director Penelope Jane Homer, who says “I have created this programme both to show off Horsham Chamber Choir’s quality and expertise, as well as to Invite our audience to reflect on the passage of time—not with sorrow, but with wonder.” She adds “From the playful madrigals of the Renaissance to the solemn grandeur of Parry’s final works, each piece offers a different lens on what it means to live, love, and remember.” |
