The Requiem was composed and first performed in 1985. Following the precedent established by Brahms and Fauré, among others, it is not strictly a setting of the Requiem Mass as laid down in Catholic liturgy, but instead is made up of a personal selection of texts, some taken from the Requiem Mass and some from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
The passage from St Luke known as the Magnificat is one of the most familiar and well-loved scriptural texts. It is included in the Catholic office of Vespers and in Anglican Evensong. The composition of the Magnificat took place in early 1990 and the première took place in May in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Conducted by Richard Cock.