Londinium & Andrew Griffiths - Choral Music by Kenneth Leighton: Every Living Creature (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the label return of the chamber choir Londinium and director Andrew Griffiths with Every Living Creature, a recital of choral music by Kenneth Leighton on the 35th anniversary of his death featuring five premiere recordings.

The album unearths a number of significant works by this important British composer, including the extraordinary, eight-movement Laudes Animantium, a 25-minute work for double choir, soloists and children’s chorus, as well as a superb setting of John Donne’s Nativitie and the charming Three Carols (1948).

Also featured are the partsong London Town and three more sacred works: Lord, When the Sense of Thy Sweet Grace, An evening hymn and A Hymn to the Trinity. Five of the pieces are heard on disc for the first time; the remaining four have been recorded only once before.

Londinium is joined by soloists Rebecca Lea and Nina Bennet (sopranos), Ciara Hendrick (mezzo-soprano), Nick Pritchard (tenor) and, in the finale of Laudes Animantium, the choir of Finchley Children’s Music Group.

In his insightful booklet notes, Griffiths writes: “It is rare to find a choral singer who does not enjoy performing Leighton’s works. His music is rooted in rigorous part-writing and counterpoint, and alive with invigorating rhythm, motivic interplay and piquant dissonance, underlaid with a deeply lyrical instinct and an exquisite sensitivity to the meaning and colour of text”.

Londinium and Andrew Griffiths’ debut SOMM release was The Gluepot Connection, a compendium portrait of British musical life in the middle of the last century (SOMMCD 180), a MusicWeb International Recording of the Year, hailed as “a brilliant concept” and “flawlessly performed”. It received a five-star review from Choir & Organ, and four stars from BBC Music Magazine and The Daily Telegraph, with Gramophone hailing its “impressive accomplishment” and declaring it “well worth seeking out”.

Tracklist:
01. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 1, Prelude
02. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 2, Scherzo. Calico Pie
03. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 3, The Nightingale
04. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 4, The Lamb
05. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 5, The Kraken
06. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 6, The Grey Squirrel
07. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 7, The Tyger
08. Laudes animantium, Op. 61: No. 8, Every Living Creature
09. An Evening Hymn
10. London Town
11. Lord, When the Sense of Thy Sweet Grace
12. 3 Carols, Op. 25: No. 1, Lully, Lulla, Thou Tiny Little Child
13. 3 Carols, Op. 25: No. 2, The Seven Joys of Mary
14. 3 Carols, Op. 25: No. 3, Sleep, Holy Babe
15. Nativitie
16. A Hymn to the Trinity


Thanks to the Original customer!