VAUGHAN WILLIAMS'S DONA NOBIS PACEM

Daniel Hyde conducts The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and soloists Krista Bennion Feeney, Sara Cutler, Clara Rottsolk and Adrian Timpau in works by Arvo P√§rt, John Rutter and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Arvo Pärt РCantus in memory of Benjamin Britten
John Rutter – Visions
Vaughan Williams – Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus
Interval
Vaughan Williams – Dona Nobis Pacem

Arvo P√§rt’s achingly simple Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten sets the scene for the English pastoral radiance of John Rutter’s Visions. This recent work by Rutter for solo violin, boys’ choir and strings celebrates the utopian ideal of heavenly peace alongside Vaughan Williams’s folksy Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus and his 1936 cantata Dona Nobis Pacem. Bringing out the bitter implications and poignant sincerity of Vaughan Williams’s great plea for peace, Dona Nobis Pacem – Grant us Peace – was inspired by recent wars during the growing fears of a new one.

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