Recessional is a five-stanza verse from Kipling’s The Five Nations which was written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Grainger’s setting dates from 27/28 November 1929, although sketches date back to 1905. Scored for mixed chorus with or without keyboard accompaniments, Grainger sets all five verses with the direction that the fourth and fifth verses ‘may be left out’ (as they are here). With the rousing hymn-like tune Grainger creates an anthem that is quite unlike anything else in his output. In a ‘Round Letter’ dated 7 June 1949 he writes: ‘Kipling’s Recessional was so sweetly sung in a small college town, that I almost wished I was dead and it sung over my grave!’

from notes by Barry Peter Ould © 1996