---

Programme Note

The first prayer that my parents taught me as a child was the following: “I love thee Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, close by me forever, and love me I pray.” In this there is a profound doctrine. I loved these words, and only later I heard the music of ‘Away in a Manger’ which I did not like. I resolved one day to make my own setting of it. So, nearly sixty years later, I made my setting, dedicating it to my two young daughters, Theodora and Sofia. I heard the inimitable sound of King’s College Choir in my head as I wrote it, so I am very happy that they will give its first performance on Christmas Eve this year.

J.T.