Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

In 1914 the pleasant afternoon garden tea party of the Edwardian era was blown apart by the winds of world war and nothing was ever going to be the same again. This collection of intense and powerful English choral works all written during, or shortly after the end of, the First World War sheds light on the turmoil that "the war to end all wars" brought on individuals as well as society at large. Each work reflects its composer's response to the conflict, from the turbulent start of Stanford's "For Lo, I Raise Up", written shortly after the start of the war, to Vaughan Williams' paean of thanksgiving, "Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge", written for a service at St Paul's Cathedral in 1921. This recording, sung by the choir of boys and men of Truro Cathedral under the direction of Christopher Gray, includes the first complete recording of Alan Gray's three-part cycle "1914", written in memory of the two sons he lost in the war, together with the rarely-recorded "A Short Requiem" by Walford Davies of 1915, written "in sacred memory of all those who have fallen in the war." Also included are Hubert Parry's magnificent six "Songs Of Farewell", largely written during 1914 and '15, but not performed in their entirety until 1919, a year after Parry's death in the dreadful post-war influenza epidemic. To my ears, the singers do not seem quite on top of the opening "For Lo, I Raise Up" and do not get into their stride until Walford Davies' Requiem. However the "Songs Of Farewell" are excellent and the closing "Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge" by Vaughan Williams is outstanding with Claude Lamon's trumpet coming to the fore. This disc is not and could never be easy listening as all four composers were wrestling with the profound issues raised by war. However the questions need to be asked and although our generation may answer them differently the music on offer here remains deeply moving and well worth hearing.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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