Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Eleanor Daley is a Canadian choir director and composer with a growing global reputation. On this release her music is given every opportunity to shine with some glorious singing from the Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London under director Rupert Gough. The award-winning 'Requiem' from 1994 was prompted by hearing a performance of Herbert Howells' 'Requiem' not long after hearing that a loved one was terminally ill. The working title was 'Requiem For A Friend' and the texts use both traditional requiem mass words along with other poetry, including The Sound Of The Birds by Carolyn Smart. This results in a piece that is both familiar yet new with some appropriately moving music beautifully sung by the choir and benefitting from the excellent acoustic in the Church of St Alban the Martyr in Birmingham. Choir directors looking for a different 'Requiem' that is not too different and which will be a pleasure both to sing and to hear will appreciate Daley's offering. The selection of some of her other compositions in this collection share the same accessibility and should be within the capability of many four-part choirs. "grandmother moon" (note to proof-reader: no capital letters in the original text) is by Mary Louise Martin, a Mi'kmaq poet living in British Columbia, the Mi'kmaq people being First Nations People from Nova Scotia. The poem is in English, except for the final word, "We'lain" which means "thank you", and I can imagine directors of amateur choirs will enjoy including this in future programmes. The remaining seven works in this collection are all settings of more traditional church choir repertoire: "Upon My Heart" is from the Song of Songs and John's Gospel, "Come, Renew Us" is by David Adam, "Open Thou Mine Eyes" by Lancelot Andrewes, "Os Justi", the only Latin text, is from Psalm 37, "My Soul Is Exceeding Sorrowful" is from the Office of Tenebrae, "Set Me A Seal" is a different setting of verses from Song of Songs that have also been used in "Upon My Heart", "Christ Hath A Garden" is by Robert Bridges, and the closing song is the moving "For The Fallen" by Laurence Binyon from the opening year of the so-called "War to end war" in 1914. Any of the songs in this collection could be useful additions to many a choir's repertoire and the performance by the Choir of Royal Holloway shows how they should be sung.

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