Choir launches first recording since lockdown
One of the highest profile church choirs in the South West has just released the first recording of its music since the pandemic struck.
Bath Abbey Choir’s new CD Caritas was launched at an special evensong service yesterday, October 19, ahead of general release next week.
Caritas, which means Christian love of humankind, is a beautiful collection of choral works celebrating love, hope and charity, with music chosen to console and uplift its listeners.
Recorded in February this year by Regent Records, it is the first recording made by the choir with choirmaster Huw Williams since singing resumed after 18 months of restrictions.
The CD features music that provides solace for those suffering challenge and loss, including music recently sung at the memorial services at Bath Abbey for the late Queen.
The glorious singing of the Abbey’s boys, girls and lay clerks again resonates through the hallowed walls of the historic and beautiful building.
Caritas includes the first recordings of Judith Bingham’s ‘The Sleeping Soul’ – commissioned by Bath Abbey – and ‘Lord, you have been my Dwelling Place,’ by choirmaster Mr Williams. “Two items recorded are by a former colleague of mine – John Scott, who died in 2015 aged 59,” he said. “He was a wonderful and inspiring colleague and an outstanding musician.”
Guy Bridgewater, the rector of Bath Abbey, described ‘How Can I Keep from Singing?’ as “one of the glorious pieces” in the recording.
He said it “gives a beautiful voice to the love and grace of God on which our faith rests”.
“Not so long ago, at the height of the pandemic, with our Abbey choirs furloughed and live worship deemed unsafe, a different refrain was winning through,” he added.
“‘How Can I Sing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land?,’ the deep lament of God’s people in Psalm 137, vividly expressed our sad sense of exile and loss in worship.
“But now the ‘caritas’ of God has prevailed at last – and this musical offering of love, joy and hope is our special act of thanksgiving by choirs returning to Bath Abbey.”
Addressing potential listeners of the recording, he said: “I am so grateful to Huw Williams, and all who help us lift up hearts and voices in worship once again, and I pray that you too, as you join the Abbey through this wonderful new recording, may find your spirit crying out afresh: ‘How can I keep from singing?’”