UNDER AN ENGLISH HEAVEN
SUE CASSON'S SETTING OF RUPERT BROOKKE'S SONNET 'THE SOLDIER' IS SUNG BY CASTERTON SCHOOL'S PHOENIX CHOIR UNDER THE DIRECTION OF DAVID CHAPMAN., SOLOIST:ROBERT BLACKMORE
To launch The Kilmuir Papers website on International Human Rights Day 2013, the songs from Under an English Heaven, interspersed with readings from the personal papers of David Maxwell Fyfe chosen by his grandson, Tom Blackmore, were performed in St Matthew's Church, Westminster, with choristers from Southwark Cathedral Girls Choir.
It was narrated by Robert Blackmore.
"'Sights and sounds, dreams happy as her day,
And laughter learnt of friends, and gentleness,
In hearts at peace'
Are not the prerogative of any one country.
They are the inalienable heritage of mankind."
David Maxwell Fyfe's closing speech at Nuremberg.
Under an English Heaven is a score that was commissioned for Tom Blackmore's film of the same name.
It tells an intimate history of David Maxwell Fyfe, a chief prosecutor at The Nuremberg Trials and subsequently a champion of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Comprising a set of six songs written in 3 parts for girls voices with a solo baritone, the words are taken from
Non Sempre Imbres by James Logie Robertson, and Rupert Brooke's War Sonnets, poems that were favourites of Maxwell Fyfe's. Brooke's The Soldier inspired him in his closing speech at Nuremberg.
The score was recorded by The Phoenix singers in Casterton Church, under the direction of David Chapman.
Under an English Heaven was expanded and recreated as Dreams of Peace & Freedom
and first performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe
You can find out more about David Maxwell Fyfe at The Kilmuir Papers.
To see the finished film click here.
Here is a short excerpt from the film featuring images of the liberation of Auschwitz.
To read the words whilst hearing the music click on an image below
Blow out you Bugles
These Hearts
The Soldier
There are Waters
Non Semper Imbres
