Howard Goodall's music may be familiar to listeners who have never heard his name because he wrote the theme for several popular BBC comedy series, including Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. The chaste ethereality of those choral anthems stood in bizarre disjunction with shows' spectacular daftness, but somehow they managed to seem absolutely appropriate nonetheless. This album includes as a filler the gorgeously lyrical theme for The Vicar of Dibley, easily one of the finest settings of the 23rd Psalm in English. The main event here, though, is
Goodall's requiem, Eternal Light, written in 2008.
Goodall has one foot in the classical choral tradition and one in the popular, and the requiem is probably his most ambitious classical project. The composer whose work his most closely resembles is
John Rutter, in its easy melodiousness and warm harmonies. Like
Rutter,
Goodall is not always consistent, and while some movements are breathtakingly lovely, others sound facile and derivative. Among the finer moments in the requiem, which uses an eclectic mix of poetry rather than the standard Latin texts, are the Kyrie: Close now thine eyes; Hymn: Lead, kindly light; Lachrymosa: Do not stand at my grave and weep; Recordare: Drop, drop, slow tears; and In paradisium: Lux aeterna, all of which beautifully express a resonant, melancholy lyricism. The
Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and the orchestra,
London Musici, led by
Stephen Darlington, perform with warmth and deeply felt conviction. Soprano
Natasha Marsh and tenor
Alfie Boe have lightweight voices that work well in this material, but baritone
Christopher Maltman has a substance that puts him in another league. EMI's sound is full and nicely ambient.