The souls of the righteous was commissioned by David Bushnell in memory of his late wife Sheila. Both had been associated with Winchester Cathedral for some thirty years and Sheila’s ashes were scattered within the cathedral precincts. In writing the piece, Pott felt it natural to draw not only upon the memory of his own parents but also on the atmosphere of William Byrd’s setting (as Justorum animae) of these words, a motet which has held an especially profound significance for him ever since he was a chorister at New College. Pott has always tried to recreate something of the sensibility of English sixteenth-rather than nineteenth-century sacred music in his own choral writing, and in this case the feeling was particularly strong. The souls of the righteous received its first performance in Winchester Cathedral in 2000.

from notes by Jeremy Filsell © 2003