Large-Scale Works
L’Estrange is best known for his series of large-scale choral works which draw together singers of all ages across the community. Find out more about each of them below.
Introducing Freedom!
Freedom is the fifth in the popular series of 40-minute community choral works for SATB chorus, massed unison children’s choir and instrumental quintet. This time Alexander has collaborated with his wife Joanna Forbes L’Estrange.
Freedom! The Power of Song was commissioned in 2018 by Jeremy Backhouse and Salisbury Community Choir to mark four important landmarks in the struggle for freedom: the centenary of the end of World War I, 100 years since some women first were allowed to vote, 50 years since the American Civil Rights movement and 25 years since the Baltic 'singing revolution'.
It will be premiered on 3 November 2018 in Winchester Cathedral by Salisbury Community Choir and a massed children's choir conducted by Jeremy Backhouse with The Call Me Al Quintet led by Alexander L'Estrange.
This powerful and emotive work celebrates the vital role communal singing has played throughout history, bringing people together in solidarity at times of upheaval, struggle and change. From Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement and the suffragette marches to the spontaneous singing of soldiers in the trenches of WW1 and the non-violent Baltic ‘singing revolution’, singing has played a part in changing lives for good.
Zimbe! Come, sing the songs of Africa!
a phenomenal fusion of traditional African song and jazz which took the choral world by storm
Ahoy! SIng for the Mary Rose
a nautical fusion of Tudor songs, sea shanties and original music, celebrating King Henry VIII’s famous warship
Song Cycle: vive la vélorution!
ten entertaining songs about the bicycle, from its inauspicious beginnings to the glorious Tour de France
Wassail! Carols of comfort and joy
Wassail! is a sequence of choral arrangements of uplifting traditional carols, both sacred and secular.
Small-Scale Works
Liturgical settings include the Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (New College Service), the Lord’s Prayer and Lighten our Darkness (Prayers for Peace). There are also sacred anthems for upper voices and for SATB choir, some with organ and some unaccompanied, ranging in difficulty level from easy to challenging. Secular songs include Love’s Philosophy, three settings of poems by Shelley, Tennyson and Byron, currently on the ABRSM Singing Syllabus.
On Eagles' Wings
“Alexander L’Estrange is the added ninth of contemporary church music—his eminently practical music combining the utmost respect for the tradition with a gently subversive wit. Nigel Short and the expert singers of Tenebrae warmly embrace these exciting new works.”
The Twyford Carols
The Twyford Carols comprise four jazzy songs for two-part children's choir and piano (+ optional simple percussion to be performed by the children). It is ideal for primary school carol services and Christmas concerts.
Total duration: 10 minutes
1) Rejoice, rejoice!
2) Save the world
3) Come and see *
4) Rejoice, rejoice! (reprise)
* 'Come and see’ has signings which have been specially devised by Paul Whittaker OBE
Words and music by Joanna & Alexander L'Estrange.
The Twyford Carols have been recorded by Twyford School Senior Choir, conducted by David Hall, accompanied on the piano by Alexander L’Estrange, as part of the CD “Wassail!”