for mixed voices (SATB & TB semi-chorus) & organ
Text: English (Anon, 16th Century)
Duration: c4 minutes
Difficulty: 3/5
Use: Christmas

Composer's note
All this time was commissioned by Harrow School, for their 2012 Carol Service. There are two chapel choirs at Harrow; one of four parts, and the other, consisting of tenor and baritone voices, of two parts. For the Carol Service the two part choir sings from the Gallery, which also houses the organ, while the four part choir sings from the choir stalls at the east end of the Chapel. This carol is therefore written with these rather unusual arrangements in mind. In particular, the organ part makes a commentary on the text, as well as supporting the choirs. The tessitura of all parts is governed by the youthfulness of the voices of the School Choirs. The first performances of the carol took place in Harrow School Chapel on 4th and 5th of December 2012.

Text
All this time this song is best:
‘Verbum caro factum est.’

This night there is a child y-born
That sprang out of Jesse’s thorn;
We must sing and sy thereforn:

All this time...

Jesus is the childes name,
And Mary mild is this dame;
All our sorrow shall turn to game:

All this time...

It fell upon high midnight:
The starres shone both fair and bright;
The angels sang with all their might:

All this time...

Now kneel we down on our knee,
And pray we to the Trinity
Our help, our succour for to be.

All this time...

Anonymous, 16th Century

Philip Moore
Philip Moore has held posts at Eton College, Canterbury and Guildford Cathedrals, and York Minster. Although much of his music is for choirs and organs, he has also written song cycles and chamber, piano and orchestral music. His pieces are sung in cathedrals, churches and concert halls throughout the world, and he is frequently featured on BBC broadcasts of Choral Evensong. One of his recent compositions, At the round earth’s imagined corners, a choral setting of a religious sonnet by John Donne, had its US premiere in Chicago in May 2014 with the St Charles Singers. The work has just been recorded by the Choir of Winchester Cathedral, with the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble, conducted by Andrew Lumsden. Moore has received a variety of honours and awards, the most recent being an honorary doctorate from the University of York. In 2014 he won second prize in a competition promoted by St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York, for a set of evening canticles for treble voices and organ. In addition he was the prize winner in a competition for a Christmas anthem, organised by St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. He is organist emeritus of York Minster and will serve as president of the Royal College of Organists from 2015.