Communion music
This week we shall be listening to “The Lord is my shepherd” by Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989), performed by the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge.
Berkeley wrote this setting of part of the 23rd Psalm – almost certainly the most well-known and well-loved of the Book of Psalms – in 1975. Berkeley’s music reflects a strong French interest: he had read French at Oxford, and went on to become personally acquainted with such major French composers as Poulenc, Ravel, Roussel, Milhaud and Honegger. He had a long artistic association with Benjamin Britten – they collaborated on a number of works – and was Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.