American composer John Harbison’s Requiem came to light in 2002, prompted by a commission from the Boston Symphony which, eerily, was signed in the first week of September 2001. The work had a long gestation beginning in the mid 1980s and a similar period has elapsed between the 2003 premiere and this recording. Now aged 80, the composer has been a mild exponent of modernism, a trait that is evident in his handling of the texts of the Requiem Mass.

Scored for ample forces, four soloists and chorus, Harbison uses his resources with restraint. While the hour-long score has echoes of Britten and Bernstein, it lacks either composer’s gift for striking drama or memorable melody, and...