O Nata Lux

Notes

O Nata Lux is the opening work from my larger work, Dusk Songs – a reflective, contemplative Compline Mass that has its roots in both Western and Eastern liturgical heritage. This, along with each work in the collection, has a vigil-like invocation. I’ve always been interested in the idea that for many centuries, Christianity was preached in an oblique language to most people, and so I combine Latin and English here, with the latter acting as an emerging translation. I’m also influenced by the pentatonic overlapping phrases of the Central African Baka people for the sopranos’ layered texture.

Dusk Songs with commissioned by Ebor Singers and premiered at York Minster in 2006. It was first released on their label, Boreas Music.