Kerensa Briggs: Requiem The Choir of Kings College London & Joseph Fort

• Kerensa Briggs (b. 1991): Requiem:
• 1 Briggs: Requiem: I. Introit 03:36
• 2 Briggs: Requiem: II. Kyrie 03:28
• 3 Briggs: Requiem: III. Offertory 05:47
• 4 Briggs: Requiem: IV. Sanctus 01:53
• 5 Briggs: Requiem: V. Pie Jesu 04:39
• 6 Briggs: Requiem: VI. Agnus Dei 03:50
• 7 Briggs: Requiem: VII. I heard a voice from... 02:07
• 8 Briggs: Requiem: VIII. Libera me 05:44
• 9 Briggs: Requiem: IX. In Paradisum 03:11
• Prelude on ‘Pange lingua’:
• 10 Briggs: Prelude on ‘Pange lingua’ 06:57
• The Windsor Service:
• 11 Briggs: The Windsor Service: I. Magnificat 04:21
• 12 Briggs: The Windsor Service: II. Nunc dimittis 03:04
• Inner Light:
• 13 Briggs: Inner Light 02:39
• Psalm 121 'I will lift up mine eyes':
• 14 Briggs: Psalm 121 'I will lift up mine eyes' 04:32
• Total Runtime 55:48

Info for Kerensa Briggs: Requiem

Now in her early thirties, Kerensa Briggs could hardly have enjoyed a more salubrious childhood for a composer of sacred choral music, surrounded by music in Gloucester Cathedral close, singing in choirs and hearing the daily choral services. Briggs went on to study music and sing as a choral scholar at King’s College London, and her music and her understanding of the way the voice works have their roots in this deep immersion.

This recording is the first dedicated to her music, in a portrait programme of premieres. Joseph Fort and The Choir of King’s College London continue to attract widespread critical acclaim, both for the ambition of their recorded programmes and for their polished and mature execution.

"Kerensa Briggs has written a wonderful setting of the Requiem. I haven’t previously heard a composition by her on such a large scale and I was seriously impressed with the quality, eloquence and sincerity of the piece. She responds very acutely to the words she has chosen to set and the result is that the Requiem is beautiful and affecting. She is superbly served by the performers on this first recording. [Briggs' music] is consistently beautiful ... In Anita Monserrat we hear a singer who is ideally suited to the music. Her voice is well-focused, rich and round-toned and she sings with fine expressiveness ... I hope that the music will receive a higher profile through this recording, leading to other choirs taking it up" (MusicWeb International)

The Choir of King’s College London
Joseph Fort, direction

Joseph Fort
is a conductor and musicologist based in London. Since 2015 he has been College Organist & Director of the Chapel Choir, and Lecturer in Music at King’s College London, which role he took up immediately upon the completion of his PhD at Harvard University.

Joseph's performances with the Choir of King’s College London have been recognised as ‘English choral singing at its best’ (Choir & Organ), ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Gramophone), and ‘superbly drilled’ (The Guardian). His expansive discography with Delphian Records has received considerable critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice and the ‘best new classical albums’ lists in Gramophone. Recent orchestral conducting includes Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the London Mozart Players. He also directs the acclaimed professional choir of St Paul’s Knightsbridge.

Joseph’s academic research focuses on eighteenth-century music and dance. He is currently completing a monograph on Haydn and minuets. He has published in the Eighteenth-Century Music journal, and has chapters in books with Cambridge University Press and Leipzig University Press. His chamber arrangement of The Cloud Messenger by Gustav Holst is published by Stainer & Bell.

The Choir of King’s College London
is one of the leading university choirs in England, and has existed since its founding by William Henry Monk in the middle of the 19th century. The Choir today consists of some thirty Choral Scholars reading a variety of subjects. The Choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for Chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong services offered during term, as well as various other services. Services from the College Chapel are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. The Choir also frequently sings for worship outside the university, including at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In addition, the Choir gives many concert performances. Recent festival appearances in England include the Barnes Music Festival, London Handel Festival, Oundle International Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Spitalfields Festival, and the Christmas and Holy Week Festivals at St. John’s Smith Square. In 2017 the Choir joined forces with Britten Sinfonia to give the UK premiere of Samuel Barber’s The Lovers (Chamber Version) at Kings Place, the performance described in The Times as ‘sung beautifully, the voices judiciously blended’. The Choir tours widely, with destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA. In 2017 it served as Choir-In-Residence for the northeast convention of American Guild of Organists and Royal Canadian College of Organists in Montreal.

The Choir has made many recordings, and enjoys an ongoing relationship with Delphian Records. Recent recordings include the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms in its 1872 English-language setting, praised as ‘utterly uplifting’ (Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale), ‘an intimate, highly charged performance’ (Stephen Pritchard, The Observer), and the Masses for Double Choir by Kenneth Leighton and Frank Martin, described as ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Marc Rochester, Gramophone), and ‘a colourful performance . . . Joseph Fort’s superbly drilled Choir of King’s College London singing with shedloads of oomph’ (Graham Rickson, theartsdesk.com). More recent releases include Gustav Holst’s The Cloud Messenger, in a new chamber version by Joseph Fort.

Following some twenty years under the leadership of David Trendell, the Choir has been directed by Dr Joseph Fort since 2015.

Booklet for Kerensa Briggs: Requiem