Here is a difficult one, the difficulty lying in the ease, and (since we are dealing in paradoxes) that being the source of its strength and weakness. The subject is a mighty one, such as would tax the greatest masters. Perhaps the work on this Resurrection was heartened by the precedent set for them to follow, which was Stainer’s Crucifixion. Simon McEnery and Canon Jeremy Davies were commissioned, in a sense, to continue where that ended. Stainer’s qualities of “simplicity and accessibility” were admired but, apparently, Stainer “did not go far enough”.

The text of the new work is based on St John’s Gospel and concentrates imaginatively upon the experience of individuals – Mary Magdalene, Thomas and Peter. The music involves the usual vocal forces but the instrumentation is for piano and strings. The verbal style sets a tone of modestly poetic thoughtfulness (“In the rubble / Of our disappointed dreams”) but does not forfeit the common touch (as in “unless you believe that Friday’s a hoax”). The music submits the choir stalls to the softer effects of the popular musical, unerringly seeking out those lovely chords of bittersweet nostalgia, with the syncopations of a rosy-coloured indulgence and the reassurance of an ostinato figure on the piano. We wouldn’t realistically expect to find Elton John at the piano but the music does not forbid the idea that we might…

I suppose that on the whole I enjoyed it but don’t feel happy about having done so. The performance by choir, orchestra and pianist is fine. The soloists are most enjoyably heard in the unaccompanied quartet “Faith and doubt”. The recorded sound seems well balanced (difficult to be sure without having heard a live performance). Canon Davies’s introductory essay provides a clear commentary on the text but needs supplementing with a note on the music.