The Choir of King's College, Cambridge conducted by Stephen Cleobury with organists Ben-San Lau, Parker Ramsay, Douglas Tang
David Goode music, Francis Warner words
1. Anthem for All Saints' Day
2. Anthem for St Catharine's Day
3. Anthem for St Cecilia's Day
4. Variations on a Theme by Francis Warner (played by David Goode)
5. Anthem for St Peter's Day
6. Anthem for the Visitation
7. Anthem for Christ the King
Available from
OxRecs with accompanying booklet. For a book of all the anthem scores with CD only, please order from
Colin Smythe Publishers.
CHOIR & ORGAN (JUL/AUG 2015): The romantic, exuberant poetry in celebration of saints' days is arresting, especially the Anthem for the Visitation.....There is skill and originality here, and these pieces deserve more exposure.
ORGANISTS' REVIEW (SEP 2015): Rare is it to find the librettist given equal status with the composer and, perhaps, rarer still to find an entire CD devoted to a three-way relationship between the two creators and their interpreter. This is music very much from the Anglican tradition, broadly tonal and lyrical, a logical progression from Howells and Finzi, whilst evincing a distinctive voice, and all these anthems make excellent devotional meditations for the feast concerned: feats is definitely the word as the shortest is over seven minutes long and the most extended almost eleven in duration. Warner’s poetry, sometimes
highly sophisticated, at others
evoking the simplicity of medieval
mystery plays, offers textured grist
to the composer’s mill and Goode’s
sensitive settings are nourishingly wholegrain.
At the heart of the sequence,
Goode’s virtuosic
Variations on a
Theme by Francis Warner cleanses
the palate between the rich courses
of Warner’s vivid and sometimes
densely layered verbal imagery.
Playful, imaginative, colourful —
vast expanses of emotional ground
fly past with rapid yet sure touch
— Goode relishing as many of the
possibilities of the King’s organ as
can be crammed into just over 12
minutes, with witty and respectful
nods in the direct of many favourite
organist/composers.
The singing is thoroughly
committed and vibrant and as
atmospherically enhanced as one
might expect by the celebrated
acoustic of King’s Chapel.
CATHEDRAL MUSIC (NOV 2015): There is a real shortage of anthems for saints' days, so this collection of six anthems by David Goode is much to be welcomed. They certainly require a choir and organist of a high calibre. Few, if any can match the superb standard of the choir of King's College Cambridge which, under their director Stephen Cleobury, performs the anthems most convincingly.....Overall it is a well worthwhile CD.