top of page

COMPOSITIONS selected

Mediva Sequences

Sequentiae Hildegardenses

Collaboration with Ann Allen and mediaeval ensemble Mediva

An Interview with composer Hugh Collins Rice about SEQUENCES

an interview with the composer - Project Odradek

"It’s Hugh Collins Rice who really underlines his predecessor’s uncompromising reach by bravely and successfully picking up on her aesthetic at full-throttle. His vocal music is deeply expressive, while his idea of pre-counterpoint counterpoint taps something deeply, naturally human. [The] possibilities of medieval instruments seem to propel him to something evocative but trendless. [You] don’t always know whether its Collins Rice you’re listening to or Hildegard; each sounds as contemporary as the other."
Andrew Mellor | GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE

"...startling with refreshingly tart, spiny, intense, colourful, challenging, demanding, busy yet transparent textures ... played and sung with much beauty and impressive commitment in a voyage of discovery for composer, performers and listeners alike.”
Rebecca Tavener | CHOIR & ORGAN

"Hildegard’s songs were originally performed for the love of prayer, and Collins Rice’s contemporary music reflects these strands in her writings. The resulting music is like a mystery, searching for the heart of a saint in the 12th century. This music would be either the answer or the question from musicians of the 21st century in search of insight into the mysterious experience of the saints in the Medieval period."
Osamu Horiuchi | RECORD GEIJUTSU

Loading...

Loading...

Via (1997)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Small orchestra [2.2.2.2. - 2.2.0.0. – timps – str] | 5 mins.

Performed by the Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra (cond. J Cohen)

blank.mp3
00:00 / 01:38
View score
00:00 / 00:00
Via

Loading...

Robin's Lament (1994)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Chamber orchestra [0.1.1.1 - 1.0.0.0 - str] | 12 mins.

Winner, Composers’ Guild of Great Britain/MCPS Composition Prize (1995)
Performed by Britten Sinfonia (cond. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies), St John’s, Smith Square, London (1995), and broadcast on BBC Radio 3

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:28
00:00 / 00:00
Robin's Lament

Loading...

Before the End (1989)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

[0.2.ca.2 (1st+Eb).bcl.2 (2nd+cbn) - 4.0.0.0 – str] | 16 mins.

Winner PA Composition Award (1989) performed by YMSO (cond. J Blair) Royal Festival Hall, London

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
View score
00:00 / 00:00
Before the End

Loading...

Viola Sonata (2023)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Viola & piano | 16 mins.

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
View score
00:00 / 00:00
Viola Sonata

Loading...

Four Abstracts for Clavichord (2021)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Clavichord | 14 mins.

Written for and performed by Terence Charlston.

The title of this work invokes the relationship between abstract visual art and music, and the practice of giving pictorial titles to (abstract) musical compositions. The four movements are named after abstract works - or rather series of works - by British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004).

Abstract 1: Glacier (Prelude)

Abstract 2: Six Lines (Fuga)

Abstract 3: Connected Forms (Siciliano)

Abstract 4: Scorpio (Fantasia) – YouTube (performed by Terence Charlston)

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
View score
00:00 / 00:00
Four Abstracts for Clavichord

Loading...

Coeli, instrumental motet (2019)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Sextet, (fl. bcl. Marimba, pno. vln. vc.) | 9 mins.

blank.mp3
00:00 / 01:44
00:00 / 00:00
Coeli, instrumental motet

Loading...

Canto Celato (2016)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Clarinet, violin, piano | 14 mins.

Prizewinner, Serocki International Composers' Competition (2019)

Performed by Hashtag Ensemble, Witold Lutoslawski Concert Studio, Warsaw, and recorded for Polish Radio 2

blank.mp3
00:00 / 03:13
00:00 / 00:00
Canto Celato

Loading...

A Melancholy Pavan (2010)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Chamber ensemble, (fl. ob. corA. cl. bsn. hn. tpt. pno. vln. vla. vc. cb.) | 12 mins.

Performed by London Schubert Players, Edwin Roxburgh, London

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:39
00:00 / 00:00
A Melancholy Pavan

Loading...

Aria for the Vigil of St Laurence (2003)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Ob. d’amore, vln., vc., pno. | 5 mins.

Performed by Paragon Ensemble, Glasgow

blank.mp3
00:00 / 01:42
00:00 / 00:00
Aria for the Vigil of St Laurence

Loading...

Earth and Moon, a sacred geometry for tubas (1999)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Tuba quartet (2euph. 2tba.) | 6 mins.

Performed by Tubalaté  and as the title track of their fourth cd Earth and Moon (Horizon TCD 4)

blank.mp3
00:00 / 01:52
00:00 / 00:00
Earth and Moon, a sacred geometry for tubas

Loading...

I Fiori (1996)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

String quartet | 16 mins.

Performed by Coull String Quartet, London and Warwick
Published by Alfred Lengnick

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:02
00:00 / 02:04
I Fiori

Loading...

St Godric’s Dance (1993-4)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Tenor sax, piano | 8 mins.

Performed by Peter Nichols & Margaret Ozanne, London, Oxford, Ashtead, Cambridge and Wakefield.
Published by Alfred Lengnick

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:12
00:00 / 00:00
St Godric’s Dance

Loading...

Pendants (1989)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Piano trio | 8 mins.

Performed by Holywell Ensemble, London, Oxford and Cambridge

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:12
00:00 / 00:00
Pendants

Loading...

a further sea ... (2022)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Soprano & piano | 13 mins.

four Emily Dickinson songs

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
View score
00:00 / 00:00
a further sea ...

Loading...

Locus Iste (2009)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Mixed choir [SSATB] + organ | 5 mins.

Commissioned for the centenary of Hertford College Chapel, Oxford

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
00:00 / 00:00
Locus Iste

Loading...

And They Went to a Place (1999)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

8 voices [SSAATTBB] | 8 mins.

Text: St Mark’s Gospel/Latin antiphons
Performed by The Swingle Singers, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
00:00 / 00:00
And They Went to a Place

Loading...

The Pentecost Castle (1997)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Tenor, piano | 16 mins.

Text: Geoffrey Hill
Performed by Neil Mackenzie, Andrew Leach, Oxford

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
View score
00:00 / 00:00
The Pentecost Castle

Loading...

Dominus custodit te (1996)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Mixed choir [SSAATTBB] + organ | 3 mins.

Performed in London and Didcot

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
00:00 / 00:00
Dominus custodit te

Loading...

In the Grave, Whither thou Goest (1995)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Soprano & ensemble [cl. vib. vln. vla. vc.] | 6 mins.

Text: Christina Rossetti
Performed by Jane Manning and Jane’s Minstrels (cond. R Montgomery), Reading and broadcast on BBC Radio 3
Published by Alfred Lengnick

blank.mp3
00:00 / 01:22
00:00 / 00:00
In the Grave, Whither thou Goest

Loading...

Ave Maria (1994)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

Mixed choir [SSATBB] | 4 mins.

Performed in London and Cambridge

blank.mp3
00:00 / 00:00
00:00 / 00:00
Ave Maria

Loading...

Ashwell Fragments (1994)

+

Heading 6

Heading 6

4 mens’ voices [ATTB] | 10 mins.

Text: mediaeval graffiti

Performed by the Hilliard Ensemble, Nuremberg and broadcast on Bavarian Radio

blank.mp3
00:00 / 02:19
00:00 / 00:45
Ashwell Fragments
Hugh Collins Rice
bottom of page