Since graduating from the University of Bristol (where he studied composition with Derek Bourgeois), Russell Pascoe (b1959) has made a central place for himself in the musical life of his native Cornwall. He founded the Cornwall Youth Chamber Choir and is the conductor of the City of Truro Male Choir.

He pours all of his choral writing skills into his magnum opus, the Secular Requiem, a large-scale choral and orchestral work commissioned by the Three Spires Festival and first performed in Truro Cathedral in 2013. The text, assembled by Anthony Pinching, draws on a wide range of English poetry with the intention of reflecting our increasingly secular society and the wish to connect inclusively with people of all faiths and none.

There are 14 movements grouped into five sections, representing the five stages of grief. From the stillness of Donne’s ‘No man is an island’ (with some beautiful vibraphone touches), through the Waltonesque, scurrying scherzo of Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do not go gentle’, to the eloquence of ‘The last rose of summer’ (Julien Van Mellaerts adding a noble baritone) and the elation of a transcendent, life-affirming ‘Accommodation’, this is a major work, full of poignant radiance. The emotional range is overwhelming at times. The recurring choral refrain, ‘Peace my heart’, lingers in the ear, while Catherine Wyn-Rogers brings some operatic heft to the brassy burlesque ‘Cats and Cakes’.

The rest of the album is of an equally high standard. The anthem Threnody for Jowan (1995) has a beguiling simplicity and makes the perfect foil to A Sequence for Remembrance (2018). Its six movements open with a soaring setting of Sassoon’s ‘Reconciliation’. Binyon’s ‘For the fallen’ is exquisitely harmonised and Pinching’s concluding ‘Moving on’ expresses the universal hope for peace. The strings of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales excel in the pair of instrumental interludes; the heart-on-sleeve second interlude is an exquisite example of elegiac English pastoralism. These are definitive performances from Truro Cathedral Choir and the BBC NOW, and a fine testament to the great achievements of Christopher Gray before his move to St John’s College, Cambridge, later this year.

This recording is an engineering triumph, too. Truro’s warm and lofty acoustic has been perfectly captured by Gary Cole and, aided by Jeremy Dibble’s exemplary notes, this album should become an instant classic.