Processional

Grayston "Bill" Ives (born 1948) is a British composer, singer and choral director. For 17 years until March 2009, Ives was Organist, Informator Choristarum and Fellow and Tutor in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford. In this role he was responsible for the daily musical life of the college chapel.
He was a chorister at Ely Cathedral and later studied music at Cambridge University where he held a choral scholarship at Selwyn College. After teaching music for a period, he became a member of the King's Singers, from 1978 to 1985. His voice can be heard on a number of recordings from that period, including Paul McCartney's Frog Chorus. Ives composes as Grayston, but prefers to be known as "Bill". As a composer, Ives' work consists mainly of sacred and secular music for choir, much of it written for the liturgy at Magdalen College, Oxford. His "Canterbury Te Deum" (1991) for SATB and brass quintet was commissioned for the enthronement of George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was commissioned to compose the centre-piece anthem, "The Gift of Grace", for the commemoration service, held in Westminster Abbey in March 2007, for the Abolition of Slavery. Ives has been recognised for his contribution to church music with a Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music (May 2008) and the award of a Lambeth DMus by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

"Processional" was published by Oxford University Press in 2007, and is quite typical of Ives' style, as it combines color with rhythmic drive, and sparkling textures. This work is sort of reminiscent of the works of Kenneth Leighton, although "Processional" is "less serious" than are many of Leighton's works. The last chord "reminds" us once again of Leighton, as it was his "signature" chord, consisting of a C major triad with the addition of F-sharp.