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Track Name: Adam lay y-bounden
Composer: Howard Skempton
Text: Anonymous English Carol
Duration: 1:10
Nationality: British
Howard While Skempton is an English composer, pianist, and accordionist. Skempton's work is characterised by stripped-down, essentials-only choice of materials, absence of formal development and a strong emphasis on melody. The musicologist Hermann-Christoph Müller has described Skempton's music as "the emancipation of the consonance".
A simple setting of this popular medieval Advent carol which has great originality and impact. The style is controlled, almost austere, and the effect is hypnotic. This is an unsettling but poignant piece that forces the listener to confront the mystery of Christ's coming foretold in the words.
