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Track(s) taken from CDA68013

Dear Lord and Father of mankind – Repton

First line:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind
composer
NEH 353, from a song in the oratorio Judith
composer
verse 3 arrangement
composer
last verse descant
author of text
The Brewing of Soma

Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor), Julian Empett (bass), Robert Quinney (organ)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: January 2013
Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: January 2014
Total duration: 3 minutes 37 seconds

Cover artwork: Westminster Bridge (detail). Samuel Scott (c1702-1772)
Private Collection / © Agnew's, London / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘The recording is first class. Engineer David Hinitt and producer Adrian Peacock have successfully captured the rich acoustics and yet achieved a clear reproduction of the voices and the mighty organ. Anyone who has ever been in Westminster Abbey should be overwhelmed by the lifelike sound picture. The generous programme is also finely contrasted … the quality of the singing is on a high level and Robert Quinney negotiates the organ accompaniments excellently’ (MusicWeb International)» More
Hubert Parry’s name has been synonymous with national and royal events since I was glad was first performed in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of Edward VII in 1902. However, his reputation for celebrating royal occasions began long before this—the ‘Solemn Music’ Blest pair of sirens (sung at the Royal Wedding in 2011) was commissioned by Stanford for the Bach Choir’s celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. This hymn tune, adapted from the trio Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land in his oratorio Judith (1887–1888), was given this text for the hymn book of Repton School in 1924 by Dr George Gilbert Stocks, the school’s Director of Music.

The beautiful words, by the American Quaker and anti-slave-trade campaigner John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), come from the latter part of his poem The Brewing of Soma—a Quaker commentary on pagan worship. Quoting the ‘still, small voice’ of 1 Kings 19: 11–13, he encourages a more measured approach towards contact with the Divine, characteristic of the Quakers, rather than the presumed excesses of ancient paganism.

from notes by The Revd Dr James Hawkey © 2014

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