Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Hear my prayer – O for the wings of a dove - Ave Maria
Sir Charles Stanford (1852-1924): Beati quorum via - Te Deum laudamus in B flat
Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918): I was glad My soul, there is a country And did those feet (Jerusalem - arr. Elgar, transcribed Joseph Wicks)
Sir John Tavener (1944-2013): Song for Athene
John Ireland (1879-1962): Greater Love hath no man
Douglas Guest (1916-1996): For the Fallen
Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968): The Call*
Sir William H. Harris (1883-1973): Holy is the true light
Sir Ernest Bullock (1890-1979): Give us the wings of faith
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868): O salutaris hostia
Jonathan Dove (b. 1959): Gloria (from Missa brevis)
Herbert Howells (1892-1983): A Spotless Rose
The pieces brought together on this CD range widely, from ceremonial works associated with affairs of state to intimate compositions addressing moments of great personal significance. Two of the three pieces by Parry best exemplify this contrast: if I was glad – written for the coronation of Edward VII and premiered in chaotic circumstances – fits into the former category, ‘My soul, there is a country’ (from Songs of Farewell) – composed in the year of his death – belongs in the latter.
The composers are similarly diverse. They include an English composer of Polish extraction (Panufnik), an Italian who spent most of his life in Paris (Rossini), an Irish and a German composer who, in their different ways, became leading lights in English music (Stanford and Mendelssohn).
However, all the works recorded here have one thing in common: they are all considered quintessential to the Anglican choral tradition of yesterday and today.