Fullscore Publishing is delighted to announce publication of our newly re-engraved edition of Four Lullabies for the Girls, an original suite of secular choral pieces by Piers Maxim, Director of Music and Organist at Great Malvern Priory, England. Scored for SATB (inc. part divisions) with piano accompaniment.
 
Hear all four sung by the Epsom Chamber Choir: click here (opens a  new tab, plays directly in Soundcloud). 
 
1. Golden Slumbers (words by Thomas Dekker, c1572-1632) - dur. 1m 50s
2. Sweet dreams form a Shade (words by William Blake, 1757-1827) - dur. 3m 24s
3. Sleep. sleep, beauty bright (words by William Blake) - dur. 2m 46s
4. Be still, my sweet sweeting (words by John Phillip (fl. 1566) - dur. 3m 13s
 
No. 4 includes short soprano and tenor solos, ending with a recapitulation of the lyrical first lullaby, ideally completing the suite for concert performance. 36 pages. Lyrics sheet included.
 
Free download in pdf format.
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More about Piers Maxim: piersmaxim.webs.com
 
Piers is a seasoned opera and choral conductor, organist, composer (of both sacred and secular), chorus master and professional singer, living in Worcester, England. Piers was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral from 1976 -1981, his final service being the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana. After a Cambridge University Music degree and further studies at the Guildhall he worked extensively in opera, as an assistant conductor and Chorus Master, both in the UK and abroad. He has never lost sight of his church music roots; he was an alto lay clerk at Southwark Cathedral in the 1990s .
 
Piers Maxim was Chorus Master (Chef du Choeur) at the Belgian National Opera, La Monnaie, where he prepared the chorus for around 40 opera productions and concerts, for conductors as diverse as Kazushi Ono, Zubin Mehta, Paul Daniel, Marc Minkowski, Rene Jacobs, Christophe Rousset, Adam Fischer, Daniele Callegari and Maurizio Benini. Opera productions included: Pique Dame, Der Fliegende Holländer, Fiery Angel, Boris Godunov, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Cenerentola, Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra, Lucia da Lammermoor, Rusalka, Rigoletto, Falstaff, La Traviata, Tristan und Isolde, Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan Tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Death in Venice, Aida, Medée and Semele. He conducted performances of Die Zauberflöte (also at BAM New York and in South Africa), Giulio Cesare, Agrippina, Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride.
 
In 2012 Piers moved back to the UK from Belgium to take up the post of Director of Music and Organist at Great Malvern Priory, and to concentrate on composition. His church music is published by the Royal School of Church Music. His recent publications include Malvern Suite No.1 for Organ. He teaches piano and singing as well as regularly conducting choral and vocal workshops.
 
The Maxim Family comprises Piers, his wife Gilly and their four daughters, to whom these Four Lullabies for the Girls were written. Piers and Gilly's children all enjoy singing in the choir at Great Malvern Priory, and the eldest has a Choral Scholarship to Hereford 6th Form College, with whom she regularly sings evensongs in Hereford Cathedral. Gilly studied singing at Trinity College, London, before working in orchestra management for the Hanover Band and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow. She now works in the Education department of the Diocese of Worcester.
 
Since March 2020, the Maxim Family have posted many videos, filmed both at home during the 2020 lockdown and in the Priory (when allowed). To date, the music channel of Great Malvern Priory, GMP Music on YouTube, has received nearly 28,000 views, and 1,150 hours of watch time. Click here for a beautifully edited example, with Piers playing Festival Toccata by Percy Fletcher (1879-1932) on the Malvern Priory organ.
 
A preview video of the Maxim Family singing 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (arranged to psalm chants by Nigel Edmund-Jones) is here (Fullscore Music YouTube channel). Free Fullscore Publishing sheet music edition download here.
 
Other compositions by Piers Maxim include:
 
Adam lay ybounden (2019) - Carol for SATB and organ, published by RSCM Press (RCA439). [Flipbook preview]
How Joyful 'tis to Sing- Anthem for Music Sunday 2018, published by RSCM Press (ISBN A3673):
Two French Carols - Three-part for SA/Men, D'ou viens-tu, bergere? and Quelle est cette odeur agréable?, published by RSCM Press (ISBN A3593).
Unless the Lord builds the House (2019) - The Friends' Anthem - for SATB and organ. [Flip Book/Audio preview.]
 
Cover image: A Mother With Her Sleeping Child (1896) by Léon Bazile Perrault (1832-1908)