"The ... Vasari Singers are astounding in Howells' haunting
Requiem"
Andrew Stewart - Classic fm
"a stunning display of beautifully measured and controlled a
cappella singing ... it reaches the very heart of these deeply
moving works"
Marc Rochester,
Gramophone
"If Howells's Psalm 23 brings a lump to the throat, its very intimate grief
contrasts with the intense drama of Take him, earth, for cherishing, which Howells wrote in memory of
John F Kennedy. This is the Vasari Singers' finest moment"
Independent on Sunday
"Vasari, a choir conducted by Jeremy Backhouse, are
absolutely first class and give a well-nigh exemplary performance ... The present account is quite
masterly in every respect and Vasari get remarkably fine results. A very
convincing performance and an exemplary recording"
Penguin guide to Compact Discs
"a very satisfying and moving rendition of this
all-too-rarely-heard masterpiece ... If you missed this the first
time around--consider yourself lucky to have a second chance"
ClassicsToday.com
Requiem Aeternam
The
Vasari Singers directed by
Jeremy Backhouse
[FrontPage Include Component]
"The ... Vasari Singers are astounding in Howells' haunting
Requiem"
Andrew Stewart - Classic fm
"a stunning display of beautifully measured and controlled a
cappella singing ... it reaches the very heart of these deeply
moving works"
Marc Rochester,
Gramophone
"If Howells's Psalm 23 brings a lump to the throat, its very intimate grief
contrasts with the intense drama of Take him, earth, for cherishing, which Howells wrote in memory of
John F Kennedy. This is the Vasari Singers' finest moment"
Independent on Sunday
"Vasari, a choir conducted by Jeremy Backhouse, are
absolutely first class and give a well-nigh exemplary performance ... The present account is quite
masterly in every respect and Vasari get remarkably fine results. A very
convincing performance and an exemplary recording"
Penguin guide to Compact Discs
"a very satisfying and moving rendition of this
all-too-rarely-heard masterpiece ... If you missed this the first
time around--consider yourself lucky to have a second chance"
ClassicsToday.com
On The Vasari Singers' debut disc with
Signum Records we present a deeply intimate recording of personal and moving works by Herbert Howells and Frank
Martin.
In 1935 Herbert Howells’ son died at the age of nine.
Howells sought release and consolation in his writing,
and composed the a cappella six-movement Requiem as a private document to his son. Indeed, Howells
considered his Requiem so personal an outpouring that
he felt the need to withhold it from publication. It was
not released until 1980, only three years before the
composer ’s own death.
The motet Take him, earth, for
cherishing has the dedication
"To the honoured memory of John
Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States
of America", and was composed for the commemoration
in Washington on 6th June 1964.
Frank Martin was a deeply religious man. He
composed the Mass for Double Choir, early in his
career. The work embodies the profound nature of
his beliefs, and was the only work that Martin wrote
purely for liturgical purposes. Such was the intensely
intimate nature of the work, that, like Howells, the
composer withheld it, and kept the manuscript safely in
a drawer for over forty years. As Martin himself wrote,
"This was something between God and me, that
concerned nobody else".
Over the last
two decades, The Vasari
Singers has
built up an enviable reputation for excellence,
versatility and sensitivity in both live
performances and recordings.
They perform
these pieces with passion and
devotion, and capture the very private and deep-rooted
feelings contained within each work.
