Album Description

Once again The Sixteen and the Genesis Foundation have teamed up to bring premiere recordings of a fascinating selection of new choral commissions to audiences worldwide.

The five new choral works on this album – by James MacMillan, Will Todd, Anna Semple, Eoghan Desmond and Lisa Robertson – all grew from a meditation by St John Henry Newman. Canonised in October 2019, Newman's writings represent a rich and thought-provoking legacy and, alongside the new works presented, are immortalized in three well-known hymns and Sir Edward Elgar’s exquisite elegy They are at rest. Also included are two of Elgar’s psalm settings – Great is the Lord and Give unto the Lord. These are monumental works for choir and organ, full of grandeur and drama, but also inherently simple. The album ends with a Bonus track by Bob Chilcott - also a Genesis Foundation commission - based on Psalm 139.

Artists

The Sixteen
Harry Christophers

Track Listing

Will Todd             
1. I shall be an angel of peace *          

Sir William Henry Harris                        
2. Lead, kindly light (hymn)                         

Anna Semple                      
3. A Meditation *

Richard Runciman Terry              
4. Praise to the Holiest in the height (hymn)

Sir Edward Elgar 
5. Great is the Lord, Op.67                

Lisa Robertson                         
6. ...a link in a chain... *

Sir Edward Elgar            
7. They are at rest (Elegy)                         

William Boyce                      
8. Firmly I believe and truly (hymn) 

Sir Edward Elgar              
9. Give unto the Lord, Op.74

Eoghan Desmond              
10. Nothing in vain *

Sir James MacMillan         
11. Nothing in vain *

Bonus Track: 

Bob Chilcott                 
12. O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me **

Total Run Time: 78.30

* Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen

** Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Mons Vladimir Felzmann on his 80th birthday