John Lambert: Veni Creator Spiritus – Bond

   in Choir & Organ (Mar, 2014)
British composer John Lambert (1926-95) ought to be better known, and this welcome release combines his music for organ with that of David Sutton-Anderson, Avril Anderson, Richard Blackford and Gary Carpenter. Lambert’s most striking work here features the two vocalists and reflects a serialist style. The sustaining quality of the organ is effective. The contrast in language between Anderson’s The Grass is sleeping (which is challenging first-time listening) and the lyrical French melodie that is Bond’s arrangement for two voices of Blackford’s Canticle of the Birds is refreshing. The concluding set of variations by Gary Carpenter, much honouring the language of his teacher, highlights the beauty of the Jehmlich …