Womens Barbershop chorus singing on Saturday 16th October 2010 at The New Theatre Royal Portsmouth

This brand new version of Good King Wenceslas is dedicated to my uncle Duncan Shaw of Vancouver. His "retirement project" - developing his own theory of Gravity - has been a huge inspiration in my own compositional journey late in life. Some background...  moreThis brand new version of Good King Wenceslas is dedicated to my uncle Duncan Shaw of Vancouver. His "retirement project" - developing his own theory of Gravity - has been a huge inspiration in my own compositional journey late in life. Some background: I have sung the traditional version of Good King Wenceslas since I was a kid. I fell in love with the lyrics and the story, but have always been puzzled by the way it was arranged, in particular the way that the "las" of Wenceslas lands on the downbeat. When I was young, I thought the lyrics were actually "Good King Wences last looked out!" All to say that I got inspired to create a totally different version. I used the 19th century poem by John Mason Neale, but I wanted to create a different "feel" to the story, to take it back in time to its origins in the Middle Ages - hence the medieval feel to much of the piece. I also felt that since the Wenceslas story is all about a journey, a setting in 3/4 time would create a better sense of that feeling, ra...    less