United Kingdom
EMI Classics: 2150472
Howard Goodall - Eternal Light: A Requiem
Goodall: Eternal Light: A Requiem
Goodall: Love Divine
Goodall: The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23)
Goodall: ‘Spared’ – based on the poem by Wendy Cope
Our Price: £11.95
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Artist(s): Natasha Marsh, Alfie Boe, Christopher Maltman, London Musici, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford
Conductor(s): Stephen Darlington
Release Date: 21st September 2008
More Details on Howard Goodall - Eternal Light: A Requiem
Eternal Light: A Requiem is a new work by the award-winning British composer and internationally acclaimed broadcaster, Howard Goodall. Goodall’s unusual setting of the liturgical service is performed by Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford and London Musici conducted by Stephen Darlington with soloists Natasha Marsh, Alfie Boe and Christopher Maltman.
The writing of a Requiem is a special challenge for any composer. The great Requiems of the past by composers such as Mozart, Verdi, Fauré and Duruflé interpret the sacred Requiem text literally, and represent a prayer for the salvation of the departed soul(s). Howard Goodall’s Requiem, by contrast, is intended to provide solace to the grieving. The composer said, “For me, a modern Requiem is one that acknowledges the terrible, unbearable loss and emptiness that accompanies the death of loved ones, a loss that is not easily ameliorated with platitudes about the joy awaiting us in the afterlife. … Musical expression can I hope provide some outlet, some reflection, some transportation, even some comfort….This was to be a Requiem for the living, a Requiem focussing on interrupted lives.”
Eternal Light: A Requiem is also distinguished by the inclusion of English poetry, mixed with fragments of Latin, sung simultaneously or antiphonally between the soloists and the choir. Goodall explains, “One section of Latin text comes not from the Requiem mass but from the Book of Revelation, with its description of the coming of the Angels of the Apocalypse. The Recordare movement combines with Phineas Fletcher’s early-17th century sacred verse Drop, drop, slow tears. Other texts are drawn from John McCrae, Francis Quarles, Mary Elizabeth Frye and Ann Thorp.”
Commissioned by Mark Stephenson on behalf of London Musici to celebrate the orchestra’s 20th anniversary, Eternal Light: A Requiem is a stand-alone choral work.
Three other choral works by Howard Goodall are also included in this CD: his setting of Psalm 23, well known as the theme tune of the BBC’s Vicar of Dibley series; Love Divine, a hymn of praise set to Charles Wesley’s reassuring, open-hearted words; and, finally, Goodall’s setting of Spared, Wendy Cope’s poem capturing the feelings of many people following the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
The writing of a Requiem is a special challenge for any composer. The great Requiems of the past by composers such as Mozart, Verdi, Fauré and Duruflé interpret the sacred Requiem text literally, and represent a prayer for the salvation of the departed soul(s). Howard Goodall’s Requiem, by contrast, is intended to provide solace to the grieving. The composer said, “For me, a modern Requiem is one that acknowledges the terrible, unbearable loss and emptiness that accompanies the death of loved ones, a loss that is not easily ameliorated with platitudes about the joy awaiting us in the afterlife. … Musical expression can I hope provide some outlet, some reflection, some transportation, even some comfort….This was to be a Requiem for the living, a Requiem focussing on interrupted lives.”
Eternal Light: A Requiem is also distinguished by the inclusion of English poetry, mixed with fragments of Latin, sung simultaneously or antiphonally between the soloists and the choir. Goodall explains, “One section of Latin text comes not from the Requiem mass but from the Book of Revelation, with its description of the coming of the Angels of the Apocalypse. The Recordare movement combines with Phineas Fletcher’s early-17th century sacred verse Drop, drop, slow tears. Other texts are drawn from John McCrae, Francis Quarles, Mary Elizabeth Frye and Ann Thorp.”
Commissioned by Mark Stephenson on behalf of London Musici to celebrate the orchestra’s 20th anniversary, Eternal Light: A Requiem is a stand-alone choral work.
Three other choral works by Howard Goodall are also included in this CD: his setting of Psalm 23, well known as the theme tune of the BBC’s Vicar of Dibley series; Love Divine, a hymn of praise set to Charles Wesley’s reassuring, open-hearted words; and, finally, Goodall’s setting of Spared, Wendy Cope’s poem capturing the feelings of many people following the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
