Hyperion Records

This setting was started in 1910 but without an immediate commission or performance in view it dragged on until 1912 and was first performed with organ accompaniment at Westminster Abbey on 16 July 1912 conducted by Sir Frederick Bridge. It was orchestrated in September 1913.

Elgar’s setting is markedly less complex than many other similar works, and it falls into a number of sections each using new material. At the opening the altos, tenors and basses are in unison, later in two parts and with passages of block harmony. Elgar sets the central text ‘We have thought on Thy loving-kindness, O God’ for bass solo, and in the richer choral setting of the closing section finds invention that is reminiscent of similar moments in the oratorios.

from notes by Lewis Foreman © 2007