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'The Manchester Carols' - a re-telling of the Christmas story to texts by Carol Ann Duffy Faber Music is delighted to announce the publication of a new and exciting Christmas piece. The product of an inspired collaboration between composer Sasha Johnson Manning and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, The Manchester Carols is a collection of 12 carols, linked with a gentle, entertaining narration, which reshape and modernise the Christmas story. Its creators wanted to write something that is relevant to and reflects modern society, and which acknowledges the fact that even though someone might not subscribe to the religion behind the Nativity story, they can still appreciate it as an inspiring, magical tale. The carols are for everyone, believers or not. Far from treading the well-worn path of holly, ivy and mistletoe, Duffy uses the Christmas story as a metaphor for human experience, giving us up-close and personal insights into the central characters of the nativity – Mary Joseph, a tiny baby, and a ‘golden youth’ (aka the Angel Gabriel). As the Poet Laureate says: “I think the story is wonderful. There’s a lot we can take from it on a human level even if we don’t take the divine element.” There are hints, too, of the darker, grittier side of the nativity story – refugees, poverty, giving birth on the road; and, looking further forward, there are hints of Jesus’ fate on the cross. Who better to give us a deeper insight into the piece than Carol Ann Duffy herself … “Carols, according to the 1928 edition of The Oxford Book of Carols, are simple, hilarious, popular and modern. They are a kind of folk song where direct poetry and accessible music eagerly meet. Unlike hymns, they can be playful. The word ‘carol’, traced through French, Latin and Greek, has a dancing origin. Dancing songs, by definition, are something we do together and, although there are sacred and secular carols for all the seasons, to most of us the carol is exclusively associated with Christmas – the time of year when we are most likely to join, dance and sing together. For many, these joyful songs, with their deeply familiar images and repetitions, seem to be part of childhood itself. And nothing reveals the essence of our most beloved carols more than a child’s singing voice. As a poet, it had long been an ambition of mine to collaborate in writing new carols which drew their inspiration from the Nativity simply as a story. Whether we have Christian faith or not, the Christmas story is a wonderfully powerful one, with extraordinary resonances for our 21st century – personal, political and ecological. There are harrowing moments in this story but also magic and wonder. It celebrates the great joys of love, in all its forms, but the light of love is burning against the darkness of hatred and oppression. These carols were written in Manchester in 2007 and first performed by children from several Manchester schools at The Royal Northern College of Music (and again in 2008). All of us who worked on them – librettist, composer, artist, conductor, teachers, musicians and singers – live and work in that great city. And so these are, and will forever be, The Manchester Carols.”
Instrumentation: Duration: Vocal score (including narration) 0-571-52121-5 available on sale or hire. Full score and orchestral parts are available on hire. “A work of real substance which will become a feature on the Christmas landscape.” Mary’s Carol Cold winds chase us on the road. No harm tonight to my small child. Selected audio clips: Encore:
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