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Details
St Clement Danes (RAF Church)
Strand
Temple
London
WC2R 1DH
England
Programme
Benjamin Britten – Rejoice in the Lamb, Op.30
Benjamin Britten – Hymn to St Cecilia, Op.27
Herbert Howells – Take him Earth, for Cherishing
Herbert Howells – Requiem
Performers
Christopher Dawe – Conductor
Anton Bruckner Choir
Programme Note
Anton Bruckner Choir's forthcoming concert celebrates two of the giants of twentieth century choral music: Herbert Howells (1895-1983) and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976).
The programme features Howells' searing motet Take him, Earth, for Cherishing, composed in 1964 in memory of President John F Kennedy, and the deeply moving Requiem of 1932, written in the aftermath of the death of the composer's son, Michael. The Britten works include Hymn to St Cecilia, a luminously playful response to the enigmatic Auden poem dedicated to the composer, and the cantata Rejoice in the Lamb - a fifteen minute masterpiece that encapsulates all the greatest things in Britten's music: idiomatic and imaginative word setting drawn from a love of Purcell, driving rhythms, deceptively simple melodies and a deeply compassionate response to human suffering - in this case the torments of the 'mad' 18th century poet Christopher Smart.
The stunning St Clement Danes in the Strand will provide ideally transparent acoustics for these magnificent works.
