SSAA unaccompanied
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult – Difficult
This lovely arrangement of the popular American folk song, for SSAA upper voices by Michael Higgins, perfectly captures the sense of loss and longing in the words. The music flows through a range of textures and harmonies, gently relaxing for a quietly evocative close.
SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Easy – Moderately Difficult
Based on a traditional Portuguese carol from Alentejo, ‘Ó meu Menino’ is gentle lullaby sung to the baby Jesus. This a cappella arrangement for SATB by Michael Higgins includes a Portuguese text with a singable English transliteration.
SSA unaccompanied
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Easy – Moderately Difficult
This beautifully written setting for unaccompanied 3-part upper voices (SSA) of the famous World War I poem by John McCrae is poignant and atmospheric, with approachable contemporary harmony, creating an emotional impact.
SSATTBB unaccompanied
Duration: 3.5 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult
A dramatic and expressive arrangement by Michael Higgins of the 15th century melody, scored for SSATTBB unaccompanied. Through varying the choral textures throughout, he creates an atmospheric new version of the well-known carol.
SATB unaccompanied
Duration: 2.5 minutes | Difficulty: Easy – Moderately Difficult
With a text by Thomas Campion, View me, Lord is a tender prayer characterized by its sensitive text-setting. Each verse features a change in voicing, rhythm, and harmony, while the ever-changing metre provides a feeling of fluidity. The tension built throughout the work is finally resolved in the last chord, bringing this contemplative anthem to a peaceful close.
“Another piece that could well contribute to the structure of a concert is View me, Lord . . . Higgins’s version is a simple, homophonic account featuring contemporary harmony that won’t frighten the horses. The general effect is one of tenderness and warmth – exactly the words the composer himself uses at the top of the piece.”
Jeremy Jackman, Choir & Organ, February 2020
SSATB unaccompanied
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult
In this sensitive choral arrangement of ‘Nimrod’ from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Michael Higgins sets the Eucharistic hymn ‘O salutaris Hostia’, written by St Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi. The familiar melody passes seamlessly between the voice parts, and Elgar’s lush, rich sound world is perfectly emulated by the choral textures Higgins has fashioned.
for SSSSAATBB unaccompanied
Duration: 3 minutes | Difficulty: Moderately Difficult
In this haunting arrangement of the well-known carol, Higgins creates a mystical soundscape by layering a single motif in a four-part soprano canon. These repetitions echo throughout and support the various textures explored in each verse, producing a dramatic and atmospheric setting of the Basque carol. Suitable for chamber and concert choir.
“It must be hard to think of anything original to do with The Angel Gabriel but Higgins has managed it with sophisticated textures contributing to an imaginative arrangement.”
John Quinn, MusicWeb International
