motet on Creation story; first performed by Tonus Peregrinus and broadcast in 1997; UK première in 1997; duration: c.7'

This piece was written for a pop group - Room 33 - and although it was rehearsed it was never performed because there were so many instrumental and vocal parts in the original version; this arrangement - written last Christmas on the Eurostar - reworks all the original notes into eight melodic lines. The text - which has the naive directness of a 16 year-old - is mostly given to the tenor soloist and tells the story of Creation and of what the human race has done to the Earth; while underneath the lower voices sing a simple chant on four notes about the cycle of the sun dying to rise again each morning: this 16-bar cycle forms the basis for each of the seven sections.

The sun dies to rise again from dusk to dawn and with the sun comes the wind and the rain from night to morning light opens up a brave new day when the ribbons of flowers form a chain and Hey! a brave new world is born.