Choral music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

The genesis of this album began quite by accident. I was recording some Vaughan Williams in October 2022 and was chatting with our producer, Adrian Peacock, in one of the breaks. We were discussing well-known composers and their neglected works, and in contrast neglected composers and their better-known works. Very quickly Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast came up in conversation. I recalled having grown up with an LP recording of it at home but couldn’t call to mind being familiar with any of his other music. Adrian and I reflected on the revived interest in his music and the several recordings of his chamber, orchestral and song repertoire which had appeared in the previous 12 months.

Later that day I did a cursory search online to see what other – if any – music Coleridge-Taylor had written for choirs/chorus. Very soon it became apparent there was rather a large amount of it, and although published and easily available, almost none of it had been recorded. I hastily ordered a copy of everything I could get my hands on.

Over the coming weeks the scores began arriving. I sat down and played each one at the piano. I was blown away by the variety, skill and beauty in all of them. It was roughly a 50/50 split of secular and sacred. I was then – and still am now – shocked that all the sacred works were unfamiliar to me, particularly given how much of my early musical training was in church/cathedral music. With the support of the LCS board and the generous support of its sponsors, we all felt this was a project to push up the agenda.

At the risk of sounding cliched, it has been an honour to rediscover many of these pieces and record them, giving them a platform I feel strongly they all deserve. From the simple, understated tones of Whispers of Summer on one end of the spectrum, to the quasi-cantata grandeur of Now late on the Sabbath Day, this is music which deserves to be known, and all will enjoy.

Michael Waldron