This anthem was commissioned in 2012 by Simon Winters to celebrate 25 years of the chamber choir Felicitas. Thinking about the unaccompanied vocal texture brought me back to my 1995 setting of the words of The Venerable Bede, Christus Est Stella, which in turn made me think of the beautiful words of Vidi speciosam. The setting seeks to convey the ecstatic nature of the text, set almost exclusively in a homophonic style - the harmonies are rich and opulent like the text. When performing this work, the overall effect must always be smooth and sustained (staggered breathing is recommended) and the crescendi must never lose the overall balance of the chords if possible. Recommended recording: The Call of Wisdom (Signum Classics, SIGCD298) by Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short. / Choeur Mixte (SATB)
