On 11 September Andrew Carwood conducts the world premiere of Nigel Hess’ The Spark of Life with Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The 5-minute work for choir and organ sets a text by Grahame Davies and was commissioned by the Royal Humane Society to commemorate its 250th anniversary.
Davies’ verse lauds those who render aid: “they save the universe / who save a single soul”; “the soul we call a tiny spark / to someone is a sun”. The title’s spark of life is felt in the animated figuration for organ that joins the voices as the work begins. It opens with the fragile voice of a solo treble, before the other voices join and divide, adding emotional and harmonic richness. A solo bass begins the work’s coda, which grows to a stirring climax, before a brief a cappella section and the return of the treble soloist to close the piece.
A Latin refrain – lateat scintillula forsan – is woven through the setting: “Perchance some small spark may lie concealed”, the motto of the Society, which celebrates those who have bravely made lifesaving interventions to those in danger and distress.
The Spark of Life joins a cluster of other recent choral works by Hess, recently recorded by the BBC Singers and Sofi Jeannin on The Way of Light in 2021 on Orchid Classics. It included his Kyrie (arranged from his much-loved score for Ladies in Lavender), a spritely Benedictus and Arise, My Love, his setting of The Song of Solomon.