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Metier

Uncertain Sea - Choral music by John Casken

$18.99

Details

Composer
John Casken
Artist
Joyful Company of Singers, Kim Vaughen, Tom Wilkison, Philippa Davies, Bridget Carey, Rozanna Madylu
Format
CD
Label
Metier
Released
Mar 13, 2026
Catalog #
DDX77117
UPC
809730711725

About

In March 2026, Métier presents a stunning album of choral music from Northumberland-based composer John Casken, inspired by the region's magnificent landscape and coastline, it's changing colours, history, and poetry. The recording features Joyful Company of Singers under the direction of Peter Broadbent and reflects two years of working alongside the composer. The album features evocative and powerful settings of poems by writers from 7th-century Northumbrian cowherder Caedmon to George Herbert, John Donne, Robert Burns, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Northumbrian poet Katrina Porteous, and John Casken himself. The album contains many Northumbrian connections, especially in the works written for choirs in Durham and Northumberland, including the Choir of Durham Cathedral and Newcastle Cathedral, Northern Sinfonia Chorus, and the choir John Casken himself started - Coquetdale Chamber Choir. The works are grouped around timeless and deeply resonant themes, the headings drawn from within their texts: Northumberland's seascape and dialect are central to Uncertain Sea, the single work in 'Far from Land'. The focus of 'Sacred Shaper' is Christianity in early times, followed by an Easter sequence Stone and Thorn, and finally music of farewell, Fare thee weel. Stones also play a part, whether rolling on the seabed, in memorials of stone, "the stone rolled away from Christ's tomb," or as an allegory for virtues symbolised in the stone floor of a church. The choir takes up various roles - sometimes as the voice of a community, or as voices coming together to offer reflection, or simply to tell a story through the music. John Casken's painting for the cover of this recording includes the stones of Dunstanburgh Castle bordering the seas; in Katrina Porteous's words, "Black Dunstanburgh withstands / The waves, the years."

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 Uncertain Sea 07:56
    Track
    1
    Title
    Uncertain Sea
    Duration
    07:56
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  2. 2 For dappled things 02:50
    Track
    2
    Title
    For dappled things
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  3. 3 The Land of Spices 05:21
    Track
    3
    Title
    The Land of Spices
    Duration
    05:21
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  4. 4 Caedmon's Hymn 03:49
    Track
    4
    Title
    Caedmon's Hymn
    Duration
    03:49
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  5. 5 No. 1. The Father 03:12
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. The Father
    Duration
    03:12
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  6. 6 No. 2. The Son 04:06
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. The Son
    Duration
    04:06
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  7. 7 Floore of Allegories 06:31
    Track
    7
    Title
    Floore of Allegories
    Duration
    06:31
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  8. 8 Tree of Angels 14:29
    Track
    8
    Title
    Tree of Angels
    Duration
    14:29
    Composer
    John Casken
    Performer
    Kim Vaughan, Tom Wilkinson
  9. 9 The Knight's Stone 09:20
    Track
    9
    Title
    The Knight's Stone
    Duration
    09:20
    Composer
    John Casken
    Performer
    Philippa Davies
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  10. 10 Returning from the Tomb 04:32
    Track
    10
    Title
    Returning from the Tomb
    Duration
    04:32
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  11. 11 Sunrising 06:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    Sunrising
    Duration
    06:06
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  12. 12 From One Thread 07:30
    Track
    12
    Title
    From One Thread
    Duration
    07:30
    Composer
    John Casken
    Performer
    Bridget Carey
  13. 13 Ae Fond Kiss 05:54
    Track
    13
    Title
    Ae Fond Kiss
    Duration
    05:54
    Composer
    John Casken
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent
  14. 14 Memorial 11:24
    Track
    14
    Title
    Memorial
    Duration
    11:24
    Composer
    John Casken
    Performer
    Rozanna Madylus, Marcus Farnsworth, Owen Gunnell, Aaron Townsend
    Ensemble
    Joyful Company of Singers
    Conductor
    Peter Broadbent