Francis Grier: lit by holy fire (Download)

Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge present a live world premiere recording of Francis Grier’s lit by holy fire.

A vespers service that is, in the composer’s words, ‘less traditional than most’, lit by holy fire is set for unaccompanied choir and takes seven poems by the British writer Elizabeth Cook as its base. The scoring and musical atmosphere follows the emotional sequence of Cook’s poems, leading from darkness to light, from music often of brooding intensity and simplicity towards more complex and more animated forms and tonal pictures.

The musical style overall is a nod to Rachmaninov’s soaring setting, and the full resources of the choir are utilised, from unison and homophony to complex contrapuntal configurations. Solo voices from all the different sections of the choir sing in contrast to the tutti; the dynamic range is extreme; and the tessitura in all parts covers both the lowest and highest points of those parts’ vocal ranges.

This is a live recording of the service in King’s College Chapel, which included the world premiere performance of lit by holy fire, interspersed with readings.