Horsham Chamber Choir explores Spirituality in Choral Music

They are now going one stage further with their next offering, a concert entitled Threshold – Spirituality in Choral Music to be performed at The Barn in Horsham’s Causeway at 4.30pm on November 11.Tickets £15 adults/£8 for under-18s at www.horsham-chamberchoir.org.uk.

Spokesman Steve Martin said: “Still with the choir’s roots firmly fixed in religious music of past centuries, the second half of their concert will be a world premiere that brings together his renaissance composer William Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices with electronic music written specifically for the choir by London-based baritone David Buckley. This year marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death. The combined work will reflect both the distinct difference in styles as well as the singularity of purpose of the underlying music. David Buckley is Australian by birth and a recent graduate from the University of Cambridge. Aside from his singing career he composes electronic music and has been featured on BBC Radio 1.”

Horsham Chamber Choir’s musical director Tim Peters explains the concept behind this unusual arrangement: “I have been researching spiritualism in music, which in this context means a sense of presence and awareness of the space around the listener that has the effect of limiting his or her internal narrative. My purpose is to find specific musical devices that make a piece of music meditative and relaxing. I believe that music which is felt more in the body than in the mind tends to be more spiritual. This is particularly so when musical elements change slowly or subtly, creating a simpler musical journey. I have therefore programmed the first half of our concert with pieces that guide our audience through surges of sensation and emotion whilst retaining a sense of presence.”

Tim added: “None of the concert is in English. This is because when our audience hears their native language, they tend to use the words to conjure up vivid images in their minds. Up to the 1960s, virtually all catholic churches used Latin in their liturgy, as well as in their musical offerings. While some of their congregations could understand the meanings of the words, for many the sacred veil of unfamiliarity would lead them to tap into their other senses, such as the smell of incense, the echoing of the acoustics, the hard coldness of the building, the glint of the gold artefacts and the iridescent scattering of light thrown from stained glass windows.” He points out that this theory does not only apply to Western classical music but believes it can be seen in all western music, including the longform DJ sets of House and Techno music which kicked off in the 1980s: “They may seem much more energetic and vibrant, but really they are still a kind of music that can put the audience into a trance that can last hours.” ​