‘Feel the Spirit’ is a set of seven arrangements of well-known spirituals, first performed in 2001. It is performed on this recording by the acclaimed jazz singer Jacqueline Dankworth in its chamber-ensemble arrangement. Harvey Brough’s ‘Walled Garden Suite’ for soloist, choir and instrumental quartet was written for Dankworth and first performed on the occasion of the opening of the walled garden at Wingfield Arts in Suffolk. Of the two collections by Bob Chilcott on this CD, ‘Fragments from his Dish’ is a group of five light-hearted part-songs on the themes of food and drink. The programme concludes with ‘The Making of the Drum’, settings of words by Barbadian poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite, commissioned from Bob Chilcott by OPMS on the occasion of the choir’s twentieth anniversary in 1997. It tells the story of the making of a traditional African drum and is heavily influenced by the style of African tribal music.

‘Dankworth sings plaintively with chorus and orchestra the seven spirituals, “Feel the Spirit”, … and the young Harvey Brough’s attractive “Walled Garden Suite”, which was written for her and choir with three winds and guitar in 2001. But the most appealing pieces on this CD are unaccompanied SATB by Bob Chilcott: “Fragments from his Dish”, all about food, and a wonderful cycle about making a Ugandan drum.’ – Choir and Organ

Feel the Spirit		arr. John Rutter
	Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
	Steal away
	I got a Robe
	Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child
	Ev’ry time I feel the Spirit
	Deep River
	When the Saints go marching in
Walled Garden Suite		Harvey Brough
	The Argument	(Robert Herrick)
	Red Running Rue	(Traditional)
	To Daffodils	(Robert Herrick)
	On Himself	(Robert Herrick)
Fragments From His Dish		Bob Chilcott
	Grace – The Clean Platter	(Robert Herrick/Ogden Nash)
	The Pie	(Newcastle Chronicle, Jan 6, 1770)
	Harvest in my Croft	(William Langland)
	Christmas 1666	(Samuel Pepys)
	Whines from the Wood	(G.K. Chesterton)
The Making of the Drum		Bob Chilcott
	The Skin
	The Barrel of the Drum
	The Two Curved Sticks of the Drummer
	Gourds and Rattles
	The Gong-Gong

Total Time: 68’50”
Recorded in St Margaret’s Church, Oxford, 22–23 March 2003.
OxRecs OXCD-96