The Craftsman

SATB & organ

5 minutes

Text: from Ecclesiasticus

Commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, to celebrate the

opening of the 1996 Summer Exhibition. First performed in St James

Church, Piccadilly, conducted by Adrian Peacock; Martin Butler, organ.

“Suitably adorned with a rich, varied accompaniment for the organist,

Alastair Stout’s The Craftsman is a substantial work, where an unusual

text from Ecclesiasticus is set in a most invigorating style for SATB and

organ:stretches of generally homophonic writing for the choir are interspersed

with recitative passages for tenors and basses, and this piece, which has

plenty to say, will be enjoyable to learn and to perform.”

Church Music Quarterly, July 1997