I always ask myself…
Q1 does it enhance the words?
Q2 does it feel nice to sing?
By the time I started writing my own music I had been a professional singer for 10 years, performing and recording a LOT of contemporary music, and so I knew, from a singer’s perspective, how it feels to sing new music.
Twenty years on, I still compose in a way that is mindful of the choirs who perform my music. It matters to me that everything I write feels nice to sing. After I’ve completed a new piece I take it into my studio and record a demo of it; if anything proves uncomfortable to sing, I rewrite it.
I also care deeply that my settings enhance the meaning of the words. If they don’t, my opinion is that the text would be better left spoken. In the context of a church service, in particular, the purpose of the musical settings is to elevate the text in such a way that the congregation is drawn closer, not alienated.
Personally, I have always been a great believer in the power of a good tune and lovely harmonies. Music doesn’t have to be difficult to be effective.
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange
Finest of all, though, is Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s King’s College Service, full of delicious earworms and melting harmonies. I am confident that this work will remain as popular as Stanford’s classic [Evening Canticles in A] in 100 years’ time.
— Gramophone Magazine
Forbes L’Estrange seems to have been born with catchy melodies coursing through her veins… The composer is clear about her mission…It’s an integrity of purpose that infuses every musical phrase that Forbes L’Estrange writes.
— BBC Music Magazine
Forbes L’Estrange’s Advent ‘O’ Carol is a sublime blend of catchy and comforting, weaving simplicity into so much more.