Track Listing

1. Kyrie: Close now thine eyes
2. Revelation: Factum est silentium
3. Belief
4. Hymn: Lead, kindly light
5. Lacrymosa: Do not stand at my grave and weep
6. Dies Irae: In Flanders fields
7. Recordare: Drop, drop slow tears
8. Revelation: Tum angelus tertius clanxit
9. Agnus Dei
10. In Paradisum: Lux aeterna
11. Psalm 23
12. Love Divine
13. Spared - based on the poem by Wendy Cope about 9/11

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2237 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 57 minutes

Album Description
EMI Classics is proud to release Eternal Light: A Requiem, a new work by the award-winning British composer and internationally acclaimed broadcaster, Howard Goodall. Goodall's unusual setting of the liturgical service is performed by Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford and London Musici conducted by Stephen Darlington with soloists Natasha Marsh, Alfie Boe and Christopher Maltman.

The writing of a Requiem is a special challenge for any composer. The great Requiems of the past by composers such as Mozart, Verdi, Fauré and Duruflé interpret the sacred Requiem text literally, and represent a prayer for the salvation of the departed soul(s). Howard Goodall's Requiem, by contrast, is intended to provide solace to the grieving. The composer said, "For me, a modern Requiem is one that acknowledges the terrible, unbearable loss and emptiness that accompanies the death of loved ones, a loss that is not easily ameliorated with platitudes about the joy awaiting us in the afterlife. ... Musical expression can I hope provide some outlet, some reflection, some transportation, even some comfort....This was to be a Requiem for the living, a Requiem focussing on interrupted lives."

Eternal Light: A Requiem is also distinguished by the inclusion of English poetry, mixed with fragments of Latin, sung simultaneously or antiphonally between the soloists and the choir. Goodall explains, "One section of Latin text comes not from the Requiem mass but from the Book of Revelation, with its description of the coming of the Angels of the Apocalypse. The Recordare movement combines with Phineas Fletcher's early-17th century sacred verse Drop, drop, slow tears. Other texts are drawn from John McCrae, Francis Quarles, Mary Elizabeth Frye and Ann Thorp."

Commissioned by Mark Stephenson on behalf of London Musici to celebrate the orchestra's 20th anniversary, Eternal Light: A Requiem is a stand-alone choral work that will have its London premiere in November 2008 in an exciting collaborative version for choir, soloists, orchestra and dance. The dance, Eternal Light, commissioned by Sadler's Wells Theatre, will be performed by Rambert Dance Company. Following the premiere, Rambert Dance Company will tour Eternal Light nationally across the UK. Over seventy dates have already been confirmed, including the London premiere, which will take place at Sadler's Wells on Armistice Day (November 11), the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.

Three other choral works by Howard Goodall are also included in this CD: his setting of Psalm 23, well known as the them tune of the BBC's Vicar of Dibley series; Love Divine, a hymn of praise set to Charles Wesley's reassuring, open-hearted words; and, finally, Goodall's setting of Spared, Wendy Cope's poem capturing the feelings of many people following the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. "[The work] acts, I hope, as a fitting companion to Eternal Light: A Requiem."

Customer Reviews

Simply stunning - a must have!!
With breathtaking music played by London Musici and angelic vocals from the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Goodall's "Eternal Light" is able to evoke the listeners' deepest emotions, successfully showing both the deep sadness and loss associated with death and the splendours of the afterlife.

Goodall's refreshing, original and intelligent take on the Requiem, manages to create a certain relevance to today's society without destroying the foundations of a Requiem. By combining the Latin sequence of a requiem with words to some of the finest poetry, Goodall creates a beautiful array of emotions, and makes the requiem more accessible and meaningful to the listeners.

Eternal Light is a joy to listen to over and over again. Its superbly constructed movements with harmonies that will undoubtedly stick with and move you, Goodall's requiem is a truly magnificent piece of music. Anyone who appreciates either music or poetry will see how Goodall's choice of poems compliment the Latin meaning of each movement, and emphasises the powerful, confusing range of the strongest emotions one feels after losing someone.

Beautiful, inspiring, emotional and stunning, Eternal Light must be one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. I simply cannot do it justice in this review, nor can I recommend it highly enough.

Uplifting and sublime
I heard this piece as part of a performance of the ballet by the Rambert ballet company, and was immensely moved by it. It truly lifts the listener to an existence beyond the material world. Buy it! You will never tire of listening to it.

Heavenly peace?
There is much to like in this modern requiem containing a surfeit of beautiful, nice music that is peaceful, and indeed comforting, in tone. I'm sure that it will be enjoyed by many and that school and church choirs all over the country will soon be singing selections from it - and enjoying them too!

Unsurprisingly, at times the music is a little Lloyd-Weber meets the Vicar of Dibley ('Lead Kindly Light', 'Belief', 'Do not stand at my grave and weep') but it is certainly pleasant enough and occasionally the singing thrills as in the innovative 'Revelations' both mixing a medieval yet modern feel. The 'Recordare' is a beautifully poignant combination of latin text and Phineas Fletcher's early-17th century sacred verse Drop, drop, slow tears and its simply exquisitely sung by Natasha Marsh. It works extremely well and is my favourite piece in the Requiem.

The problem I have with all of this is the composer's stated aim to provide "a modern Requiem... that acknowledges the terrible, unbearable loss and emptiness that accompanies the death of loved ones, a loss that is not easily ameliorated with platitudes about the joy awaiting us in the afterlife." I'm not at all sure that, in the round, he's actually done this, particularly in what I can only describe as a disfunctional "Dies Irae" where the latin text is coupled with "In Flanders Fields". In my opinion this completely fails to do justice to both texts and indeed to the imagined horrors of hell or the real horrors of the modern battlefield. The "Dies Irae" is traditionally the most powerful and terrifying piece in a traditional requiem for a very good reason. It represents the pain and horror of death and judgement precisely because this is a reality in the experience of the bereaved which must be faced and endured before one can work through grief to find peace, solace and salvation.

My overall feeling after listening to "Eternal Light" several times is certainly one of peace but only because I think its dodged the main issue and gone, dare I say it, for musical rather than doctrinal platitudes. Its certainly worth buying as it contains, individually, some very nice pieces, but for a better modern requiem try Preisner's Requiem for My Friend.

I don't like the saccharine-sweet dibleyesque hymns ("Lead Kindly Light", "Love Divine" and "The Lord's My Shepherd") but school choirs will probably like them. The last two are additional 'bonus' tracks to the Requiem as is the final, amazing and extremely moving, setting of "Spared", a poem written by Wendy Cope about the devastating attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on 9/11.