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Track(s) taken from CDA66678

Let us invoke Christ

composer
1993
author of text
fragment from an ancient Eucharist liturgy

St Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scott (conductor)
Recording details: July 1993
St Paul's Cathedral, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Arthur Johnson
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: February 1994
Total duration: 7 minutes 11 seconds
 

Reviews

‘The choir sing with their customary splendour and assurance’ (Gramophone)
After an organ scholarship at King's College Cambridge, Francis Grier became assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, succeeding Simon Preston as organist in 1981. He rapidly established himself as a recitalist and appeared at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts as an organ soloist in 1985. In the same year he resigned his posts in Oxford and studied music, meditation and theology in India, working with people with learning difficulties in London and Bangalore. Since 1989 he has been based in England and performs and composes as well as working in the field of mental health.

As a composer he has received many commissions in recent times, and 1993 saw the premiere of his opera St. Francis at Eton College. He has written instrumental and chamber music and many choral works including the anthem Let us invoke Christ. The composer has kindly provided the following note:

A commission to write for St Paul's was a most welcome challenge, not only because of my long-standing admiration for John Scott and his work with the choir, but also because of the extraordinary acoustics of the cathedral. I wished to come up with a work which would be enhanced by the reverberations swirling around the dome and the length of the nave, and it also needed to have an air of celebration befitting its first performance during the opening service of the 1993 City of London Festival. By a happy coincidence I found an inspiring ancient eucharistic text which I hope has evoked just this mood, and the musical setting of which will, I hope, sound glorious in the unique sound-world of St Paul's.

from notes by William McVicker © 1994

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