Robert Lucas de Pearsall - Present Appreciations

Present Appreciations

The composer Robert Cummings writes, "While Robert Lucas Pearsall wrote instrumental and orchestral music, he is best known for his vocal works, particularly for his madrigals and part songs, which he composed as a means of reviving Renaissance-era styles. He expanded on, rather than copied, them, adding structural features from the Classical period to forge a unique pastiche style, which yielded several masterly works, including the madrigals 'Great god of love' and 'Lay a garland'."

Edward-Rhys Harry, erstwhile director of Bristol Chamber Choir (formerly the Bristol Madrigal Society mentioned earlier), was responsible for a landmark recording of Pearsall's setting of the Requiem Mass in 2009. Using Christopher Brown's edition (typeset by OUP in 2006), which was published by the Church Music Society, he created a new revised version which sought to address many of the issues raised by the original manuscript - specifically Pearsall's lack of definition regarding verbal underlay. The recording remains available from Bristol Chamber Choir.