This recording is a personal collection selected by the composer, representing a number of favourite compositions written over the last sixty years, many of which have never been recorded before. A wide range of styles are included, from a simple two-part carol written for a school choir, to demanding a cappella works.
Richard Lloyd was born in Cheshire in 1933. He was successively assistant organist at Salisbury Cathedral, organist at Hereford, and Durham Cathedrals. His extensive body of choral compositions is a joy sing and hear, and his works have established themselves in the regular repertoire of many cathedral and parish church choirs.
Those who have sung under Richard Lloyd’s direction grew up on a healthy diet of the best of centuries of church music stretching back to Tallis and Byrd, through Wesley, Wood and Stanford to Bairstow, Darke, and of course Herbert Howells and these great influences have shaped his own compositions.
The Bede Singers was formed in 2005. The musicians are former members of Durham Cathedral Choir, augmented by a number of other professional singers. They are directed by internationally-renowned conductor, David Hill, who was assistant to Richard Lloyd at Durham Cathedral.