Product Description
Words and music by Australian composer Kirsten Duncan. Contemporary choral SATB, a cappella. A4, 12 pages (including covers). Published by Shrub Creative. Item number 2025-02. ISMN 9790900969941.
An original Australian Christmas song for intermediate choirs, from the perspective of a farming family, celebrating a land of drought and flooding rains.
This choral work by Kirsten Duncan is an original Australian Christmas song, written as a tribute to Aussie farming families who endure the extremes of our often harsh climate to put food on our tables.
I set out to write a warm and fuzzy Christmas song relevant to our summer season, celebrating all the meaningful moments of a Chrissy gathering: the people, the food, the tree, the decorations and lights, the gifts and so on. Then I came across a humourous little word-play poem titled Rain deer by Walter de Jong ... and this is what came out! Theres no dashing through the snow or hot chocolate by the fireplace. For Australian farming families, budgets are often tight and everyone pitches in to keep stock and crops alive. But there is magic in their vulnerability, resilience and love of country.
Structured as a series of letters to Santa Claus from a child on a farm, the narrative describes the familys struggle to manage their land through drought, the childs plea for Santa to bring relief instead of gifts, then the delight and revitalisation of the land when Christmas Eve brings a very welcome surprise. Stylistically, the piece draws inspiration from William James Kirkpatricks Away in a Manger (1895) (listen for the lowing cattle!), and the beloved Australian Carol of the Birds (Orana for Christmas Day) (1948) by William Garnet James with lyrics by James Wheeler.
Why choose this Christmas song? It is composed for intermediate mixed adult choirs (SATB) without any accompaniment. The voices alternate between layered harmonies and poignant moments of unison, building to the Christmas Eve surprise of body percussion rain and the joyful cascading cries of rain, dear with a fittingly Christmassy conclusion. If you love a sunburnt country ... a land of ... droughts and flooding rains, this Christmas song is for you!
Kirsten Duncan has had a lifelong passion for choral singing. Now based in Canberra, Australia, she has performed with Gaudeamus (Judith Clingan), Hamburg International School (ISH) Singers, the choirs of Christ Church St Laurence Sydney (Dr Neil McEwan), The Resonants (Helen Swan) and others. Kirsten started composing choral music in 2015, contributing to the musical community that has been a stabilising thread throughout her life.
Visit shrubcreative.com.au to notify about performances of this music, and find more choral works and information.
Copyright © 2025 KIRSTEN DUNCAN. All rights reserved.
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