Dobrinka Tabakova

Turn our captivity, O Lord (Psalm 126)

Subtitle	for SATB choir a cappella
Year(s) composed	2022
Publisher	PSNY
Duration	6'
Premiere	March 11, 2023; St John the Evangelist Church Oxford as part of The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage 2023; The Sixteen • Harry Christophers, conductor
Commission	Commissioned by and written for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen
Composer note	Dobrinka Tabakova pays tribute to Byrd in two works commissioned by The Sixteen, a continuation of the composer’s creative dialogue with the pre- and post-Reformation English choral tradition. Tabakova’s response to Turn our Captivity, O Lord rests on an expressive cantilena for unison sopranos and its underlying chordal texture, the latter evocative of Byrd’s motet Emendemus in melius. “Providing partner settings carries a set of advantages and challenges, particularly if the original is by one of the greatest Renaissance composers and a master of polyphony. Finding a distinct, yet complementary approach to the word setting is always a long process. In the end I settled on a distinctly homophonic texture, to contrast the layered polyphony of Byrd’s exquisite settings.” – Dobrinka Tabakova