One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.
The songs are well contrasted in mood, yet Jackson's fondness for
snapped rhythms forms a thread running through all three pieces.
The final setting ends with a rather abrupt and short twist from
three flats back to one sharp, but this aptly reflects the dynamic
of the sonnet with its fractured final two lines, and the
simultaneous thinning of the texture also works well as an
expression of the lover's predicament . . . Both new sets by
Jackson and McDowall [When time is broke] offer much for an
audience to enjoy, and the singers too, being welcome additions to
the contemporary partsong repertoire in which all voices take an
equal part in singing the song.
*Geoffrey Webber, Church Music Quarterly, May 2017*
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