Catalogue of Compositions
Phillip’s music is strongly influenced by his native Lake District and by history. His main musical influences are found in continuing and reconciling a pastoral British tradition.
Antiphon (2024)
Although I have written many pieces that utilise different choral groupings and spatial effects, I had until this point never written a piece for a tradition antiphonal double choir. Therefore it was nice to have the opportunity and the double challenge of setting this well known text. Although the ghosts of Vaughan Williams and Leighton were never far away, I hope to have created something new and of worth with these wonderful words.
Agnus Dei (2023)
My setting of the Agnus Dei is in a simple tripartite form, with softer modal writing balanced against more strident homophonic material. This balancing is accentuated by two different harmonic spheres which are in a benign conflict, with one ultimately prevailing over the other. Throughout, the organ acts as both onlooker and participant, providing the necessary detachment to create a meaningful setting of these heartfelt words.
Hodie Christus Natus Est (2023)
Hodie Christus Natus Est is a homage to that particularly ‘rustic’ element in early medieval church music, where elements of the pre-Christian and Christian rites seemed to coexist in a beguiling symbiosis. The work aims to blend a folksy, communal dance element with more traditional choral writing. It is a light-hearted piece, and the score could be used as a blueprint to a more extreme version of what is composed where the ‘pagan’ aspects of the work could be exaggerated to great effect.
Christus Resurgens (2023)
Christus Resurgens is a dramatic and gestural setting of this short Easter text. The work is in a simple rondo form with the declamatory outbursts of ‘Christus’ interspersed with more introspective matieral. The work is dedicated to Christopher Batchelor in admiration for all his support for my music at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.
Ubi Caritas (2022)
Ubi Caritas is a simple setting of these well-known and much loved words. My work is warm and direct with a wistful melody filtered through the whole choir in its short duration. The work is dedicated to my in-laws on their seventieth birthdays and was written for Benedict Preece and Caritas Chamber Choir who have supported my work with such dedication in 2022.
I Am The Voice (2022)
I Am The Voice is a simple setting of these powerful words from the Book of John. The work is in a direct two-part form, with a passionate chorale following a slowly building textural section.
Festival Te Deum (2022)
My second setting of the Te Deum is more expansive than the first, split into four movements and featuring a prominent solo soprano part. It takes a short self-quotation from an earlier work as the basis for a fifteen-minute modal fantasia.
Canticum Mariae Virginis (2021)
Canticum Mariae Virginis juxtaposes two texts, both regarding the Virgin Mary, but offering different yet complementary accounts of the Blessed Virgin. As well as pairing these texts, the piece also uses two different languages and two points of view in its six-minute duration.
Four Marian Antiphons (2020)
The Four Marian Antiphons are simple and sustained settings of the well-known Marian texts. They carry on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs, though still retaining the thumbprints of my mature style. The motets are in clear forms, with simple textures and flowing melodies.
Regina Coeli (2020)
Regina Coeli is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.
Alma Redemptoris Mater (2020)
Alma Redemptoris Mater is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.
Gloria (2020)
My setting of the Gloria was written during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and what I imagined might initially be an introspective and melancholy work actually turned out to be one of my most ebullient and colourful pieces, spurred on by this unusual and percussive collection of instruments.
Salve Regina (2019)
Salve Regina is a simple and sustained setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs.
When in Our Music (2019)
When in Our Music is a ‘festival’ anthem for choir, brass, percussion and organ, written to be a celebratory and optimistic offering full of vibrancy and verve.
Ave Regina Caelorum (2019)
Ave Regina Caelorum is a simple setting of the well-known Marian Antiphon. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs
To the End of the Age (2019)
To the End of the Age is a simple setting of this short section from the Book of Matthew relating to the Baptism of Christ. It carries on a current desire to write shorter, easier motets that are more accessible to a wider range of choirs, though still retaining the thumbprints of my mature style.
Fourth Service [St Pancras] (2018)
This setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimmitis has been performed all across the world. It was commissioned by the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music in 2018.
Magnificat (2018)
My setting of the Magnificat is the fifth time I have set this text, but the first time in Latin and without an organ – it is an entirely different beast from the previous four.
Missa Sancti Albanus (2017, rev. 2023)
The Missa Sancti Albanus is an attempt at an unaccompanied mass setting which is largely polyphonic and inspired by the great settings by the Renaissance masters.