This is a world première recording, of a work composed by Paul Carr (b 1961) around the time of his mother's death in 2005. Carr's main career was in opera stage management and he has worked with some of the world's leading companies including The English National Opera, The Australian Opera, The New Israeli Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera. Combining his appreciation for the dramatic along with a gift for melody, he has forged a style that's been very well received and often used by the British television and film industry.

In his Requiem for an Angel, beautiful melodies, and lots of them, are what drives the music forward. Imagine if you can the combination of John Rutter's choral writing, Paul McCartney's melodic flair in his excursions in this genre, Gerald Finzi's orchestral sound, and a slight whiff of the essence within Leonard Bernstein's Mass, and you would have an idea of what Paul Carr's music sounds like. And unlike the grim finality of most Requiem Masses, this one, like the one by Gabriel Fauré, sends the soul off to a better and blissful place. Some segments, as in the Sanctus, even sound joyous. Carr has managed to merge the solemnity of the subject matter with the natural simplicity of popular music perfectly.

The engagement of everyone involved, especially from soprano Sophie Bevan and baritone Mark Stone, can be felt throughout this new recording on the recently established Stone Records label.

Jean-Yves Duperron - April 2011