DESCRIPTION:
The Choir of York Minster, under the direction of Robert Sharpe and accompanied by David Pipe, perform Edward Wood Naylor's Advent motet 'Vox Dicentis: Clama, composed in 1911 for the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

The text of Wood's motet, which will be recognisable to those familiar with Handel's Messiah, is drawn from the Book of Isaiah and tells of the voice crying out in preparation for the arrival of Christ at Christmas. The treble solo in the piece's final section, performed here by York chorister Maria Marshall, gently reflects on the coming savior as a loving shepherd, a marked departure from the bombast of the opening sequence.

[ Latin Text: ]

Vox dicentis: Clama: et dixi: Quid clamabo?
Omnis caro foenum, et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri.
Vere foenum est populus.
Exsiccatum est foenum, et cecidit flos:
verbum autem Domini nostri manet in aeternum.

Super montem excelsum ascende tu, qui evangelizas Sion:
exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, qui evangelizas Jerusalem:
exalta, noli timere.
Dic civitatibus Judae: Ecce Deus vester.

Ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet,
et brachium eius dominabitur:
ecce merces eius cum eo, et opus illius coram illo.

Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet,
in brachio suo congregabit agnos,
et in sinu suo levabit, foetas ipse portabit.

[ English Translation: ]

A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is as the flower of the field.
Truly the people is grass.
The grass withers, and the flower fades;
but the word of our Lord stands forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O herald of good tidings to Zion;
lift up your voice with strength, O herald of good tidings to Jerusalem:
lift it up, fear not;
Say unto the cities of Judah: "Behold your God!"

Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and His arm rules for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,
and shall gather the lambs in His arm,
and gently lead those that are with young.

[ Recording available on the disk 'A Year at York' (Regent, 2011) ]