Richard Hickox CBE, the conductor on this album, has made over 280 recordings and received a Grammy and five Gramophone Awards.
Composition History
Leighton's Te Deum laudamus was originally commissioned by the Church of St Sepulchre, Holborn, for a festival service in honour of St Cecilia in 1964.
Compositional Technique
A prominent musical idea in Symphony No. 2 is a paraphrase of the emotive hymn "The Shining River" by American Rev. Robert Lowry, which appears in the first movement and the finale.
Compositional Technique
In his Symphony No. 2, Leighton used texts from English metaphysical poets like John Donne and George Herbert, rather than conventional religious service texts.
Composition History
Leighton's Symphony No. 2, subtitled Sinfonia mistica, was composed between 1973 and 1974 as a direct result of his mother's death.
Composer Biography
Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988) began his musical journey as a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral from 1937 to 1942.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Leighton considered himself religious and found "religious/mystical/visionary ideas the most exciting stimulus for composition."
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