Lullabye for Lucy

For unaccompanied SATB chorus, to words by George Mackay Brown.

Composer Note:
In setting George Mackay Brown’s acrostic lines for the birth of Lucy Randall (the first child borne in Rackwick, Hoy, for 32 years) I set myself the uncharacteristic problem of banishing all ‘black’ notes – that is, the work used only the ‘white’ notes on the piano – a symbolic ‘conceit’ I had not tried before. The music has the gentle rocking rhythm suitable for its purpose, and I enjoyed writing the tune so much I repeated all of the text in order to hear it twice.
-Peter Maxwell Davies