Anthem – ‘God Be Merciful’ Op.51

Composed: 2020

First Performance: 8th June 2021, Merton College, Chapel, Oxford, conducted by Benjamin Nicholas

Duration: 5 minutes

Commissioned:  To celebrate Robert Venables QC being made an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford

The Covid Pandemic of 2020 affected people is many different ways and my own response was  a creative one. However, the impetus for the work came in the from of a commission from Mr Gary Morris, who asked me if I would compose a work for his partner Robert Venables QC.  I was, of course delighted and energised by the invitation. 

The search for a suitable text did not take me very long as the central message of Psalm  67, is a plea to God for the return of health to the Nations. Following a brief organ introduction the   choir enter singing a reflective a cappella passage. The music’s gentle homophony mirrors the the psalmist’s words  ‘O God Be Merciful.’ The psalmist then praises God  (buoyant counterpoint and syncopated rhythms) and gives thanks that the earth shall bring forth her increase (the introductory string music metamorphosed into vocal counterpoint). This music also acts as the work’s coda, only this time suspended over a pedal note, ultimately resolving onto an unexpected chord of B major. Acting as a metaphor for optimism and hope, it closes a work which, not only serves as a special gift from one person to another, but also one which may give balm to those in the present and the gift of remembrance to those who have yet to come.