O nata lux

From one of the UK’s bright, emerging choral composers, Rhiannon Randle, is this sublime setting of the familiar Latin text. O nata lux is a personal reflection on the compelling and timeless choral atmosphere depicted by the famous Thomas Tallis setting of these words. Dedicated to the memory of Randle’s late grandmother, the work balances a sense of intimate prayer and meditation with a spiritual declamation of the ‘light born of light.’ To see hope and new life in despair and death – for in the darkness we have seen a great light – chimes as much with the season of Advent as it does with personal loss. 
The lilting homophony of the opening is characterised by light tenuti, intended to provide a sense of gentle ebb and flow, almost as if to accentuate the natural emphases of speech. This then broadens into a polyphonic cascade, which hints at Bruckner as much as paying homage to Tallis’s own setting. 
O nata lux is an exciting addition to the Contemporary Choral Series, suitable for intermediate to advanced choirs looking to support and programme new music by outstanding young composers.