Sweet was the Song: choral music by Mark Browse

Aim

A new CD of choral works by Mark Browse, performed by the Luminatus Vocal Ensemble.

About this project

This is a brand-new album of music for choir composed by Mark Browse, recorded by the Luminatus vocal ensemble under their Director of Music, David Bray. The working title of the album is Sweet was the song. It will be recorded and produced by Convivium Records, a leading independent label.

Beautiful, lyrical choral music

Mark Browse has been composing sacred and secular music for over 30 years. His creations are melodic and accessible; being a choral singer himself, he writes sensitively for the human voice, always producing music that is a pleasure to sing for the many choral groups across the UK and overseas who have performed his compositions.  

This album will comprise around 20 tracks totalling about an hour of music, including some pieces that have never been performed before. 

Mark draws inspiration from both ancient and more modern texts, whether secular or sacred, familiar or less well known. With a deep feeling for language, he sets these texts to music that illustrates and complements the meaning of the words.

Sharing this music with a new, wider audience

With your help, this lyrical, accessible music will be able to reach a wider audience of music-lovers and singers.

For choirs, this recording is an introduction to fresh new repertoire. For listeners, it offers a polished professional performance of music to delight, move and inspire.

Why we need your help

To produce an album like this needs a budget of around £15,000 to £17,000, to cover the cost of singers, conductor and accompanists as well as venue hire and the costs of recording, editing and producing the finished CD. Some of this cost will be covered by personal and corporate patrons who have already generously offered their support; but to ensure the project comes to fruition, we need to raise at least £5,000 from this campaign - ideally more.

Rewards

Any amount would be gratefully received. If you are able to contribute £50 or more there are rewards available: see further down this page!

About Mark Browse

"Mark’s piece soon drew me in completely, in particular with its substantial, dark conclusion... The strong music and sincere playing had an intense effect on me."

- Former Master of the King's Music Dame Judith Weir, writing about 'Five Variations on Pange Lingua'.

Mark grew up in Kent and studied at St Peter's College, Oxford, where he read Modern Languages. From an early age Mark has been involved in choral music of all kinds, and he is active as a singer and conductor as well as a composer. His music has been performed in the UK, the USA and Europe, by many different groups, including Horsham Chamber Choir, the English Arts Chorale and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus (for whom Mark composed When Music Sounds, one of the tracks to be included on the CD).

The choral pieces on the new album are all relatively short and self-contained, but Mark has also written larger-scale works, including an opera, Margaret of Antioch, and an oratorio, The Mysteries of Joy. He has also written purely instrumental works, such as Five Variations on Pange Lingua, which won first prize in the 2017-18 New Music Competition run by the Yorkshire Late Starters Strings and judged by Dame Judith Weir.

There are relatively few good recordings - that's why we're making this new CD - but below are a few links to examples of Mark's work (these will open in separate windows). The first two, marked with an asterisk*, will be recorded by the Luminatus Vocal Ensemble and included in the new album. The other tracks are given to help give an impression of the range of Mark's work.

(Some of these links open in SoundCloud. If it asks you to sign in, just click the X near the top right-hand corner and you will then be able to play the track without signing in.)

• The English Arts Chorale sing There is no rose* (on YouTube; Mark's begins at 6 minutes 20 seconds into the video).
• The Montagu Singers perform Holy heavenly love* (the track featured on the video at the top of this page).
• Farewell Duet from Margaret of Antioch, sung by Jo Browse (soprano) and Briony Lambert (contralto), conducted by Leslie Olive.
• Surge Aquilo, performed by the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York, conducted by Nikolai Kachanov.
• Speak, Mary, Speak, from The Mysteries of Joy: Warnham Voices, conducted by the composer.
• Five Variations on Pange Lingua, for string orchestra. (The 'dark conclusion' referred to by Dame Judith Weir starts at 7:25.)

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 16th June 2026 at 11:04am