Leighton's The Second Service was commissioned in memory of Brian Runnett, a virtuosic organist of Norwich Cathedral who died in a car crash.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Leighton found the most exciting stimulus for composition in religious, mystical, and visionary ideas.
Composer Biography
In 1951, Leighton won the Mendelssohn Scholarship, which allowed him to study in Rome under the Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi.
Compositional Technique
Leighton's choral writing often disturbs the words of the text through fierce counterpoint, jagged syncopation, and twisting melismas.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in two locations: Trinity College Chapel on July 4-5, 2013, and Lincoln Cathedral on July 8-10, 2013.
Compositional Technique
Leighton's setting of Gerard Manley Hopkins's "God's grandeur" uses a harmonically ambiguous D minor/major chord to represent God's grandeur as both great and terrifying.
Composer Biography
Kenneth Leighton began his musical life as a boy chorister at Wakefield Cathedral, singing there from 1937 to 1942.
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