Hewitt Jones: Christmas Party

Thomas Hewitt Jones Christmas Party

1 Christmas Party Simon Hewitt Jones solo violin The Royal Ballet Sinfonia Gavin Sutherland conductor

2 Child of the Stable's Secret Birth Choir of Clare College, Cambridge Court Lane Ensemble Thomas Hewitt Jones conductor

3 Cameron’s Lament – Christmas Version Thomas Hewitt Jones piano, cellos, celeste & tubular bells CHRISTMAS PARTY For many people, a good Christmas party is the highlight of their social calendar. It is a time when they can let their hair down, relax with friends and enjoy themselves. In this piece, the violin solo is the life and soul of the party. It plays host, greeting and introducing the guests as they arrive, one by one, in the form of Christmas carols, each with their own distinctive characters. The first on the scene is a popular, exuberant tune, Joy to the world!, and it’s a fantastic ice-breaker. Next to arrive at the party is an English folk song, I saw three ships, which heads straight for the bucks fizz. Skulking around slightly nervously is the old nursery rhyme, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. But the drinks are flowing and everyone is in festive mood when the Yorkshire Wassail song, Here we come a-wassailing, joins the celebration. The guests at this Christmas party come from far and wide. They include a beautiful, gentle Polish carol, Hajej, nynej, Jezísku (Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir), a softly spoken French carol, Quelle est cette odeur agréable? (Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?), and the universally popular German folksong, O Tannenbaum (O Christmas tree). But a party is not a party without dancing, and so this seasonal entertainment is rounded off with Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. CHILD OF THE STABLE’S SECRET BIRTH Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth (2009) was the first of several carols I had published by Oxford University Press. It has since become one of my most well-known seasonal pieces, having seen performances all over the world (including one on YouTube from Southern India, with the charming sound of scooters passing in the background.) The vocal parts can be assigned to any combination of voices, and the rise and fall of the gentle melody weaves its way around Timothy Dudley-Smith’s timeless text. Child of the stable’s secret birth, Voice that rang through the courts on high, the Lord by right of the lords of earth, contracted now to a wordless cry, let angels sing of a King newborn, a voice to master the wind and wave, the world is weaving a crown of thorn: the human heart and the hungry grave: a crown of thorn for that infant head the voice of God through the cedar trees cradled soft in the manger bed. rolling forth as the sound of seas. Eyes that shine in the lantern’s ray; Child of the stable’s secret birth, a face so small in its nest of hay, the Father’s gift to a wayward earth, ‘Child of the stable’s secret birth’ by Timothy Dudley- face of a child who is born to scan to drain the cup in a few short years Smith (b. 1926). © Timothy Dudley-Smith in Europe and the world he made through the eyes of man: of all our sorrows , our sins, and tears-- Africa. © Hope Publishing Company in the United States and from that face in the final day ours the prize for the road he trod: of America and the rest of the world. Reproduced by earth and heaven shall flee away. risen with Christ; at peace with God. permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Cameron’s Lament – Christmas Version On 11 July 2016, David Cameron made his final public statement to the British nation, appearing in front of 10 Downing Street to make an announcement about Theresa May succeeding him as Prime Minister. As Cameron turned and walked back through the front door of No.10, he hummed four musical notes to himself, captured by his lapel microphone which was still broadcasting. This quickly became a national news item. While powering down my studio, I saw a mention of the story on Classic FM’s news feed and I suddenly felt inspiration to turn this short musical motif into a more extended composition. So it was that after a long day’s composing I wrote, recorded and mixed my Cameron’s Lament between 12:45 am and 2 am that same night. By the next morning, the track had gone viral all over the world, and within a couple of days had been broadcast on TV and radio stations worldwide, as well as garnering hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube and encouraging a great many other musicians to create their own responses to Cameron’s humming. For this Christmas EP I thought it would be amusing to produce a seasonal version of the track which supplements the original with celeste and tubular bells (rather than the ubiquitous sleigh bells, which didn’t really work). I hope this track captures the essence of post-Brexit sentiment. THOMAS HEWITT JONES

Thomas Hewitt Jones is an award-winning composer of Abbey, 2015), and the UK premiere of choral and orchestral work contemporary classical and commercial music. Winner of the Panathenaia at the British Museum, commissioned by Hugo 2003 BBC Young Composer Competition, his music has been Ticciati. published by Boosey & Hawkes, Oxford University Press, Banks Music, the RSCM, Encore Publications, Universal Music, and is frequently heard on radio, TV and the cinema in the UK and abroad.

Thomas has written three ballets which toured the UK in 2008–2011 with Ballet Cymru, most notably a dance setting of Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece Under Milk Wood. His choral and instrumental music is frequently performed worldwide. He has also written numerous Christmas carols, including What Child is This? (OUP, 2012). Recent large-scale works include Wildflower Meadows, a song cycle commemorating the First World War, and the Christmas cantata Incarnation, released on Regent Records, both with words by regular collaborator Paul Williamson.

Commercial commissions have included work in America and scores for films in the UK, as well as music for the London 2012 Olympics Mascots animated films, with stories by Michael Morpurgo and narration by Stephen Fry. Thomas has also composed the music for a new musical version of Rumpelstiltskin which premiered at The Egg, Bath in December 2014. Recent performances include the premiere of a new set of songs charting the history of Bath with words by Paul Williamson (Bath SIMON HEWITT JONES

Simon Hewitt Jones performs, records and broadcasts widely For several years, Simon was a researcher at the Royal Academy as a solo violinist, concertmaster, teacher, writer, chamber of Music, exploring systems of violin pedagogy. He is the Artistic musician, music researcher and leader of the Fifth Quadrant Director of two groundbreaking events in London, Music and (5Q) music collective. He is involved extensively with projects the City and Classical Revolution London, and is the founder of that explore the intersection of music, technology, education, ViolinSchool.com, an online school for the violin. and cultural diplomacy.

Simon’s solo and chamber music performances have been featured internationally in festivals and on TV/Radio throughout Europe, the USA and the Middle East, including NPR’s Performance Today, BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, and Classic FM. His debut chamber music recording won a BBC Music Magazine ‘Premiere’ award. He tours extensively in the UK, and has appeared as a soloist and concertmaster at most of the UK’s major venues, including the Bridgewater Hall, the Barbican, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Albert Hall and the South Bank Centre.

Simon has contributed extensively to commercial projects for Universal Music, and his string section has recorded sessions for EMI, Virgin, Naxos and the BBC. He is a regular guest concertmaster of orchestras and ensembles in the UK and Europe. For almost a decade, he has visited the Palestinian territories regularly to work as a performer and educator in both the West Bank and Gaza. GAVIN SUTHERLAND

Gavin Sutherland is one of the busiest conductors and arrangers in involved in the reconstruction of lost orchestral works, from stage the United Kingdom. In the world of dance he was pianist and staff and screen. conductor for Northern Ballet Theatre (1992-8) and has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia in its roles on the Gavin Sutherland has performed on over 90 recordings as a concert platform, in the recording studio and as the orchestra of conductor, chiefly of English music and mainly with the Royal Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet. He has also worked as Principal Guest Sinfonia, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Conductor of the Royal New Zealand Ballet and has regularly guest Concert Orchestra. In 2009 he was appointed Chairman of the Light conducted for the National Ballet of Japan, Atlanta Ballet, the New Music Society. Adventures Dance Company and South African Ballet Theatre. He has appeared frequently for Raymond Gubbay as a conductor and In 2008 he became Music Director of English National Ballet, arranger, including tours with Anton and Erin, Happy and Glorious, becoming Principal Conductor in 2010. We’ll Meet Again, and Classical Spectacular, as well as their Royal Albert Hall collaborations with English National Ballet. He appears regularly with the BBC Concert Orchestra, particularly for BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night Is Music Night and in 2016 made his BBC Proms debut with them. In 2001 he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also guest conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Bournemouth, London and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

As a pianist he performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist, accompanist and chamber musician, and he is also active as a composer/arranger, with his work being regularly performed by all of the BBC orchestras among others. Alongside this he is frequently Christmas Party Producer: Philip Lane Engineer: Gary Thomas Mixer: Richard Scott Editors: Richard Scott & Thomas Hewitt Jones Recorded at Angel Studios, London, UK on 23rd March 2016

Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth Produced, engineered and mixed by Thomas Hewitt Jones Additional mixing by John Rutter Orchestra recorded at All Saints’, West Dulwich on 17 July 2009 Choir recorded at Clare College, Cambridge on 15 September 2009

Cameron’s Lament – Christmas Version Produced & recorded by Thomas Hewitt Jones Recorded at Shackleton Studios, Dulwich on 12th July 2016, 12:45am-2am; 22nd September 2016 (celeste & tubular bells)

Publishers Christmas Party orchestral score and parts for hire from Encore Publications – [email protected]. Violin/Piano version also available.

‘Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth’ vocal score available from Oxford University Press. Ensemble version score and parts available for hire from OUP hire department.

Fantasy on David Cameron (Cameron’s Lament) sheet music available for free download from the Classic FM website or www.thomashewittjones.com