Taylor Scott Davis on his Requiem and more...

VOCES8 present a full album dedicated to the works of their 2025-27 Composer-in-Residence Taylor Scott Davis. Bolstered by forces from the VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra, Barnaby Smith's ensemble perform Taylor's Requiem, alongside settings of texts as diverse as e e cummings and the fourteenth-century Mechthild of Magdeburg. Also featured are arrangements for Taylor of classic vocal favourites, adapted for the restrictions in place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I spoke to Taylor about some of these works, and his partnership with VOCES8...

The main work on your new album with VOCES8 is your Requiem, and you’re quite open about how, for you, music is the door through which you access religious texts and sentiments. Given that… why stick to imagery of the Day of Judgement, the Holy City of Jerusalem and so forth?

It can be a real challenge to take on texts that are hundreds of years old. I hope I navigate the tricky waters of sacred texts every time I set one, but I suppose that’s a bit up to the singers and their audience. My attempt to honor these words doesn’t, in my estimation, require me to believe in every one of them literally; their sum total, that 30,000-foot view, is where I find beauty and meaning. If someone else finds a connection a bit closer, I can celebrate that, too. In the end, the addition of the Sassoon and the relief it brings probably says more about my theology than some of those ancient images.

As I’m sure you’re aware, the idea of a more inclusive, secular-leaning Requiem has been becoming increasingly popular as formerly Christian societies evolve in new ways. What do you think people need from a musical reflection on grief and mortality in our own time?

There was a time this would have been heretical, of course, so I’m grateful to live in an age of openness. It’s important that we evolve in our thinking and it’s also important to admit that we simply have no idea why we’re here or what happens next! For starters, I very rarely see things divided sacred vs. secular. Is there beauty in something? Then it might be sacred to you. Walking around with lines of demarcation only obscures our vision. With that in mind, I think music that sounds authentically me is crucial. I trust people can hear in my music that I don’t walk around fearing a vengeful creator, that I’m not trying to save them from something. It isn’t slanderous for someone to say, “this movement sounds like it could be in a film.” And hearing “Effortlessly” sung at the Sydney Opera House or the “Magnificat” performed at Carnegie Hall doesn’t reduce their sacred components. It all belongs.

How has your relationship with the musicians of VOCES8 developed over the years? Do you think it’s guided your course as a composer in some ways?

I first met Paul and Barney in 2012 when a mutual friend introduced us. They were known in the UK and Europe and just starting to stretch out across the Atlantic. It was great fun to have them in residency when I was at First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth – we setup loads of education outreach in those early days and I learned a ton from such experiences. I never pushed my music…I admired them too much. In time, they asked for stuff and I obliged, and I found myself mesmerized by the British sound I’d long admired singing my melodies and phrases. Once that began, it was like we were on the moving sidewalks at the airport and there was no looking back! It helps to feel trusted by Barney and the group; I’ve never one time felt like they were having to convince themselves to bring my creations to life.

Given that long collaboration, were there any elements of the music that you wrote with particular singers’ voices in mind?

When I write for any group, I do my best to hear their sound, and at this point in our history together it’s easy to hear VOCES8 in my head as notes and phrases form. However, only one piece on the album was written for them, and that is “Effortlessly.” Otherwise, all tracks were written for larger ensembles.

While I did not write any part of the Requiem specifically with the English choral tradition in mind, there were moments in the movement “Idyll” when I wondered about a solo here or there and thought to myself, “this baritone line might sound good if Chris Moore were to sing it.” Ultimately, that didn’t come to pass – there are no solos in the Requiem – but it was workshopped in my head!

More broadly - who would you say were your main influences as a composer? Listening to the Requiem, I found myself thinking at times of the sensitive moments in Joby Talbot’s score to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, of all things!

Oh, that’s brilliant! And if you know Joby, tell him I’m a fan. I love all kinds of music thanks to growing up in a very musical home. There was never a time I wasn’t in choir, lapping up everything from Palestrina to Duruflé to Chilcott. A lot of my chord choices are driven by how much jazz I’ve listened to over the years. I also played the French horn through high school with a band and orchestra that were highly regarded in the state of Texas, and therefore got to know some incredibly rich instrumental music from the inside. And film scores attracted me from a very early age, with classic Disney sounds very much ingrained and composers like James Horner, Alan Silvestri, and John Williams narrating my coming of age. Musically, though, no one genre reigns supreme over another! And the thing that isn’t obvious and must be stated is that my parents fostered this musical playground. Thank God I wasn’t told a certain style didn’t belong in serious music making.

e e cummings is a composer who I always think must be equal parts dream and nightmare for composers. How did you tackle pinning his stream-of-consciousness approach down into notes, for i carry your heart with me?

Okay, I am glad to hear someone else say this. I was so hoping it wasn’t just me. It’s a lot, to be sure! Like drinking from a firehose. With this poem, I kept my eye on one image: the tree of life. I thought to myself over and over again, “that’s your apex, keep driving there.” So while the text is dense, keeping an object in mind was quite helpful because it allowed me to keep everything moving like cogs. The opening lines couldn’t get too big because I didn’t want them casting a shadow on the upcoming intimacy of the tenor and bass line, “here is the deepest secret nobody knows.” That’s when the roots shoot down and the canopy begins to spring up.