Duration: 3′
- A Christmas carol
- Text: Christie Dickason
- Unaccompanied SATB choir
- Gemini Publications
- First performance 3 December 2006 | City of Canterbury Chamber Choir/George Vass | St Mary’s Church, Chartham, Kent
Cantate, Astra
A Carol To Be Sung At the Dark Time of the Year
Cantate, Astra is part of a long and fruitful collaboration between Cecilia McDowall and the novelist and poet, Christie Dickason. Their work together ranges from carols and other songs, via cantatas – including Five Seasons, to opera, all widely performed and recorded.
Cantate, Astra evokes the spareness of medieval texture, responding to the elegant clarity of the lyric with its Latin refrain and the word ‘hope’ repeated in seven different languages from around the world.