Composers: Stanford
Compositions: Via Victrix Mass
Performers: BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales/Partington
Catalogue Number: LYRITA SRCD382

Lyrita: the label’s very name evokes the same 1970s time-warp as Edward Heath, Gough Whitlam, Watergate, lava-lamps, platform-shoes, and the Bay City Rollers. The firm now re-emerges with another enduringly valuable issue of British music. This extremely well-filled CD makes a powerful case for two late Stanford pieces: one never heard complete since its 1921 premiere, the other – 1919’s Via Victrix Mass – never heard complete at all before a BBC concert in Cardiff last October, whence derives the performance under review.