1} William Harris - Faire is the heaven
2} Benjamin Britten - Agnus Dei (from the War Requiem)
3} Douglas Guest - For the fallen
4} Gustav Holst - Turn back O man
5} John Ireland - Greater love hath no man
6} Edward Elgar - Nimrod (from the Enigma Variations)
7} Herbert Howells - Take him, earth, for cherishing
8} Mark Blatchly - For the fallen
9} Ralph Vaughan Williams - Lord, thou hast been our refuge
10} Pawel Lukaszewski - Nunc dimittis
11} William Harris - Bring us, O Lord
12} Philip Moore - At the round earth's imagined corners

Another fine offering from the Winchester Cathedral Choir under the solid direction of Andrew Lumsden. You may recall the glowing review (listed here) I posted for another recording from them a while back. The same sense of commitment and emotional engagement is present in this new recording of works that focus on the act of remembrance for people whose lives ended prematurely, usually at the hand of war. The highlights on this disc include the Agnus Dei (from the War Requiem) by Benjamin Britten in which tenor William Kendal really projects the emotional weight within the text. The harmonically perfect and yet moving Turn back O man by Gustav Holst. The world première recording of Philip Moore's At the round earth's imagined corners with it's powerful organ, brass and percussion declamations, and a no holds barred finish. And best of all is this version of the Lord, thou hast been our refuge by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I've heard this choral piece many times before, but here, as it builds near the end, with the Winchester Cathedral Choir full out, the Fine Arts Brass, Simon Lenton on trumpet, and George Castle pulling out all the stops on the pipe organ for the final chord, you can't help but feel your soul rise.

Jean-Yves Duperron - November 2014