'From Blake's 'Milton'' and 'Wassail the Trees' are now available from Sheet Music Plus.
The words to 'From Blake's 'Milton'' are better known in the iconic setting 'Jerusalem' by Sir Hubert Parry. But this setting of William Blake's poem imagines a different landscape - one in which England is green, but overcast, and where it is cold enough for breath to be visible when breathing out. It includes whispered sounds, breathing, rubbing of hands, and finger-clicking as well as some rousing singing. The accompaniment is provided by piano (two players), suspended cymbal, and a sustaining instrument such as clarinet or violin.
'Wassail the Trees' uses text adapted from a poem by Robert Herrick and features a unison vocal line and an increasingly layered drone which can be provided by voices and/or instruments such as organ, strings etc. The tradition of wassail is celebrated on Twelfth Night (5th or 6th of January) or sometimes on 17th of January. The house-visiting wassail is the practice of going door-to-door and singing in exchange for gifts.
Selected pages from the scores can be perused on the Sheet Music Plus Site - by clicking on these links: 'From Blake's 'Milton'' and 'Wassail the Trees'.