Songs of Farewell – BBC Music Magazine

A splendid collection of fine English choral music superbly sung by Jeremy Backhouse’s Vasari Singers – Their RVW Mass is glorious and the two more well-known motets from Songs of Farewell ‘My soul there is a country’ and ‘Lord, let me know mine end’ sound fresh-minted and very moving.

‘A Prayer’ is a deeply felt work, a setting of a German text composed during the Great War to underline Bridge’s pacifist beliefs. The organ plays an important integral part in this beautiful work of gentle supplications leading to a climax of passionate fervour.
The sympathetic acoustic of Rosslyn Hill Chapel is a perfect setting for these intricate, multi-part works

Ian Lace
BBC Music Magazine