So Deep

Robert Burns (Scots)

Choral level of difficulty: 2 (5 greatest)

A superbly imaginative arrangement of Robert Burns’s O my luve’s like a red, red rose (Burns wrote both words and melody). The melody winds its way through this arrangement supported by a variety of drones (bagpipe-like at times). A little later the accompanying voices repeat the words ‘so deep’ in their own times to create what MacMillan describes as ‘the ebb and flow of a large, gentle wave’. Close to the end of the vocal parts the oboe begins, soon followed by the viola and they bring the piece to a fading conclusion.

A straightforward and colourful work that would make an effective short concert piece perhaps in a group of unusual folksong arrangements.

Repertoire Note by Paul Spicer