They are at rest - Edward Elgar, John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers
39. 'They are at rest'
From the album ‘Treasures of English Church Music’
Composer Edward Elgar
Conductor John Rutter
Choir The Cambridge Singers
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They are at rest
Described in the score as an ‘elegy for unaccompanied chorus’, it was written for a service in 1910 at the Royal Mausoleum commemorating the anniversary of Queen Victoria’s death. For its text Elgar turned to Cardinal Newman (whose poem The Dream of Gerontius had been the basis of Elgar’s great oratorio of 1900). The quiet, reverent dignity of the piece bears witness to the seriousness with which Elgar took the choral medium.
LYRICS:
They are at rest, they are at rest;
We may not stir the heav’n of their repose
By rude invoking voice, or prayer addrest
In waywardness to those
Who in the mountain grots of Eden lie,
And hear the fourfold river as it murmurs by.
And soothing sounds
Blend with the neighb’ring waters as they glide;
Posted along the haunted garden’s bounds,
Angelic forms abide,
Echoing, as words of watch, o’er lawn and grove
The verses of that hymn which Seraphs chant above.
They are at rest, they are at rest.
(John Henry Newman, 1801–90)
Treasures of English Church Music
46 tracks of English a cappella church music, featuring John Rutter conducting the Cambridge Singers, and recorded in the inspiring setting of the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral.
“A marvellous collection taken from all ages of Church Music – a mix of the popular and the slightly rarer. This is recorded in Ely Cathedral and it seems to have projected itself into some wonderfully lyric pieces – the opening track of Parsons Ave Maria sets the scene for the rest of the music. This is the Cambridge Singers at their best…” Cathedral Music
John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.
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