Fand IncWessex Press

Fand Music Press is delighted to publish another new piano piece by Peter Thompson: his just-completed Toccata for Piano. This fast, exciting and flamboyant piece with intricate dance overtones should be highly rewarding material for competent pianists (Grade 8 and above).

Hail, Smiling Morn

Also new this month from Fand, unusually, is a new edition of a very well-known piece, beloved of choirs in the North of England in particular: Hail, Smiling Morn by Reginald Spofforth. This is arguably the most well-known and lastingly popular glee in the entire glee repertory, and although it has ‘universal’ words and is not inherently seasonal in any way, there is such a strong tradition of performing it at Christmas and Easter that people often consider it a carol. Nevertheless, it can be sung at any time of year.

The new Fand edition is an enhanced version of an edition published in the nineteenth century, and has been produced with amateur choirs in mind. It has also been priced accordingly, to make it affordable to often struggling groups. A characteristic of many amateur choirs today is a shortage of male singers to fill out the lower voice parts. This version of Hail, Smiling Morn recognises this problem and provides a single male-voice line that can be sung by tenors and/or basses (together with Soprano and Alto upper parts). Alternative upper and lower notes are provided for tenors and basses, but either or both may be sung and the male line is otherwise in unison.

The resulting three-part arrangement is still sufficiently harmonically full to be performed unaccompanied if desired. (The original glee was written for four unaccompanied male voices, with the top alto line being sung by one or more countertenors.) However, an optional piano part is also provided, and is a proper accompaniment rather than merely a reduction of the voice parts. It too fills out the harmony in places and provides further interest to the arrangement.