THE CROWN OF LIFE: Leighton, Clarke, Holst, Darke Choir of The Queens College, Oxford & Owen Rees

• Kenneth Leighton (1929 - 1988): A Hymn to the Trinity:
• 1 Leighton: A Hymn to the Trinity 03:11
• Harold Darke (1888 - 1976): O brother man:
• 2 Darke: O brother man 04:12
• Kenneth Leighton: Missa Christi, Festival Mass:
• 3 Leighton: Missa Christi, Festival Mass: III. Kyrie Eleison 02:34
• 4 Leighton: Missa Christi, Festival Mass: II. Gloria 03:43
• 5 Leighton: Missa Christi, Festival Mass: IV. Sanctus and Benedictus 02:42
• 6 Leighton: Missa Christi, Festival Mass: I. Agnus Dei 03:28
• Crucifixus pro nobis, Op. 38, No. 4:
• 7 Leighton: Crucifixus pro nobis, Op. 38, No. 4: Drop, drop, slow tears 02:53
• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934): Three Carols Op. 34, No. 1:
• 8 Holst: Three Carols Op. 34, No. 1: This have I done for my true love 05:42
• Nunc dimittis:
• 9 Holst: Nunc dimittis 03:13
• Imogen Holst (1907 - 1984): Out of your sleep arise and wake:
• 10 Holst: Out of your sleep arise and wake 02:52
• Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979): Ave Maria:
• 11 Clarke: Ave Maria 02:36
• Harold Darke: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
• 12 Darke: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation 05:19
• Gustav Holst: Ave Maria, Op. 9b:
• 13 Holst: Ave Maria, Op. 9b 04:36
• Rebecca Clarke: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High:
• 14 Clarke: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 06:02
• Harold Darke: Be strong and of a good courage:
• 15 Darke: Be strong and of a good courage 05:34
• Gustav Holst: Lord, who hast made us for thine own:
• 16 Holst: Lord, who hast made us for thine own 04:49
• Total Runtime 01:03:26

Info for THE CROWN OF LIFE: Leighton, Clarke, Holst, Darke

We continue here the choir’s exploration of neglected treasures of the twentieth-century English choral repertoire. At the album’s heart lies the premiere recording of Kenneth Leighton’s Missa Christi—the composer’s final large-scale sacred work, completed just months before his death. This complements our last release—That Sweet City (2024)—featuring the first recording of Leighton’s youthful cantata Veris gratia of 1950, composed during his student years at Queen’s. We juxtapose Leighton’s Mass with the sacred works of three composers born in the 1870s and ‘80s, all of whom studied with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music—Rebecca Clarke, Harold Darke, and Gustav Holst—together with a hitherto unrecorded piece by Imogen Holst.

Leighton noted in his final composition book that the Missa Christi—subtitled ‘Festival Mass’ in the autograph score—was to be ‘my last setting of the mass’. Commissioned by Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, for its 150th anniversary, the Mass was finished in March 1988 and premiered in June that year. Leighton would complete only one more project—the anthem The Beauty of Holiness—before his death in August. ...

Choir of the Queen's College Oxford
Owen Rees, director

No biography found.

Booklet for THE CROWN OF LIFE: Leighton, Clarke, Holst, Darke