Secular Requiem
Threnody For Jowan
A Sequence For Remembrance

Most if not all requiems are usually titled "Requiem Mass" or "Mass for the Dead" because they are based on and/or follow the liturgical text sequence of the Latin Mass. They are meant to alleviate the pain and sorrow of loss through an act of faith. On the other hand, this Secular Requiem by Cornish composer Russell Pascoe, "uses none of the traditional requiem texts, instead crafting its own distinctive message through profound poems by Donne, Thomas, Hitomaro, Whitman, Tagore, Hardy, Anderton, Stevenson, and Pinching" {Booklet Notes}. Professor Anthony Pinching is a retired academic. He was tasked with bringing together all of these philosophical texts to form the libretto of this work, as well as writing the text for Seasons, the requiem's final movement.

It's a highly expressive and moving large scale work, laid out over fourteen segments, and written for full choir, large orchestra, and two soloists. Russell Pascoe sets down the proper emotive tone for each differing poem, which at times projects a diametric atmosphere, but manages to weave everything together into one cohesive and well-proportioned whole. Movements like Peace, my heart which sounds as if culled from the archives of traditional sacred choral music, intermingle seamlessly with segments that would seem more at home within a musical play. One of my favourite, and yet very different passages, is the one titled Cats and Cakes, within which the suddenly departed laments the fact that not only did she not have time to put her effects in order, but also failed to remind someone to feed the cat. A text that vividly brings to light the simple fact that even life's most trivial and routine duties are of crucial importance, and that therefore we should enjoy life accordingly.

The well engineered audio recording captures all of the subtleties and finer details of the score, as well as the combined power of all the forces involved. And the brilliant writing by Russell Pascoe makes clear the fact that you do not need to bellow an earth shattering Dies irae to remember and honor the dead.