The First World - Hyperion Records - CDs, MP3 and Lossless downloads

The First World

composer

Geoffrey Burgon (1941-2010)

1992

Recordings

Burgon: Choral Music
Wells Cathedral Choir, Matthew Owens (conductor)

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CDH55421 Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Details

No 1: As the angels stood

author of text
Anna Needham (b1961)
author of text
Clare Needham (b1963)

Richard Rowntree (tenor), Christopher Sheldrake (bass), Wells Cathedral Choir, Matthew Owens (conductor)

Track 11 on CDH55421 [2'06] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)
English

No 2: Apple Blossom The first blossom was the best blossom

author of text
Louis MacNeice (1907-1963)
Collected Poems

Wells Cathedral Choir, Matthew Owens (conductor)

Track 12 on CDH55421 [3'14] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)
English

The First World

Adam’s fall and the corruption of paradise are central concerns of The First World, a diptych for unaccompanied choir infused with bold chromatic harmonies and delicate alterations of timbre and texture. Harmonic uncertainty prevails throughout As the angels stood. Anna and Clare Needham’s aphoristic verse, written during their childhood, is delineated by a call-and-response structure in which divided choral voices represent the company of angels and a tenor soloist projects the serpentine villain’s beckoning call.

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