Psalm No. 1
I had only a vague knowledge of one or two of the psalms before Gonville and Caius asked me to set one of them for this wonderful occasion. I therefore methodically read through all the psalms with no preconceived ideas at all: I simply noted down the ones that appealed to me, for various and quite random reasons. It was when I had finished this rather arduous task that I realised that it was actually Psalm No.1 that I wished to set: its dramatic content and structure was exactly what I was looking for. I then simply let the words dictate the form and content of the music, composing from beginning to end in a very intuitive manner.
For a recording of Psalm No. 1, go to Cheryl Frances-Hoad's Myspace Page