Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
The Glory & The Dream: Choral Music by Richard Rodney Bennett / RBC Chamber Choir
SOMM Recordings

The Glory & The Dream: Choral Music by Richard Rodney Bennett / RBC Chamber Choir

$20.99

Details

Composer
BENNETT, RICHARD RODNEY
Artist
Morris, Spicer
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Jul 20, 2018
Catalog #
SOMMCD 0184
UPC
748871018426

About

Somm Recordings celebrates the sublime choral music of Richard Rodney Bennett – best known to a wider audience for his Academy Award-nominated scores to Murder on the Orient Express and Far from the Madding Crowd – with 11 first recordings and a vivid new recording of his choral masterpiece, The Glory and the Dream. Performed by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, directed by Paul Spicer and with dexterous support from organist Nicholas Morris, The Glory and the Dream features 12 varied and vivacious choral pieces composed over more than 50 years. The album’s striking title work sets Wordsworth’s ode Intimations of Immortality to music that conjures childhood rapture and adult fears with the utmost finesse and feeling and features a fearsomely complex and challenging organ accompaniment. Dating from 1961, the earliest pieces here are Two Madrigals in which Bennett treats the rich ornamentations of the 17th century to a wholly modern perspective. The most recent work, One Equal Music – a sinewy, austere anthem with a serene ending – was completed in February 2012, just 10 months before the composer’s death at the age of 76. Bennett’s fascination with the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras is also to be found in the elegiac partsong A Contemplation Upon Flowers, the vocal fanfare This Day and Time, a somber meditation on the finality of life and lasting effulgence of Christ’s eternal being, and the simple but affective carol I wonder as I wander. Other seasonal pieces include the early, plainchant-infused The Sorrows of Mary, the gentle ‘hush song’ Lullaby Baby and late, substantial Remember, O thou man, a fervent and heartfelt prayer ending in quiet contemplation. Previous Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir recordings on SOMM have included admired recordings of choral music by Herbert Howells, Samuel Barber and John Joubert, together with partsongs by Ireland, Delius and Stanford.

Tracklist 15 tracks

  1. 1 I Wonder as I Wander 02:41
    Track
    1
    Title
    I Wonder as I Wander
    Duration
    02:41
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  2. 2 Lullaby Baby 03:15
    Track
    2
    Title
    Lullaby Baby
    Duration
    03:15
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  3. 3 The Sorrows of Mary 04:32
    Track
    3
    Title
    The Sorrows of Mary
    Duration
    04:32
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  4. 4 No. 1. Still to be neat 01:01
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 1. Still to be neat
    Duration
    01:01
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  5. 5 No. 2. The hour-glass 02:07
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 2. The hour-glass
    Duration
    02:07
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  6. 6 Remember, O Thou Man 04:36
    Track
    6
    Title
    Remember, O Thou Man
    Duration
    04:36
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  7. 7 I. Con anima 11:31
    Track
    7
    Title
    I. Con anima
    Duration
    11:31
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Performer
    Nicholas Morris
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  8. 8 II. Andante lento 04:28
    Track
    8
    Title
    II. Andante lento
    Duration
    04:28
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Performer
    Nicholas Morris
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  9. 9 III. Con moto appassionato 06:34
    Track
    9
    Title
    III. Con moto appassionato
    Duration
    06:34
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Performer
    Nicholas Morris
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  10. 10 IV. Vivo e leggiero 07:27
    Track
    10
    Title
    IV. Vivo e leggiero
    Duration
    07:27
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Performer
    Nicholas Morris
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  11. 11 This Day 02:41
    Track
    11
    Title
    This Day
    Duration
    02:41
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  12. 12 A Contemplation Upon Flowers 03:54
    Track
    12
    Title
    A Contemplation Upon Flowers
    Duration
    03:54
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  13. 13 Madrigal 'And Can the Physician' 01:29
    Track
    13
    Title
    Madrigal 'And Can the Physician'
    Duration
    01:29
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  14. 14 Time 03:33
    Track
    14
    Title
    Time
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer
  15. 15 One Equal Music 02:36
    Track
    15
    Title
    One Equal Music
    Duration
    02:36
    Composer
    Richard Rodney Bennett
    Ensemble
    Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
    Conductor
    Paul Spicer