Excerpt from Festival Worship at Old South Church, Boston, 2/4/24, with Kate Wood, soprano soloist.
English composer Grayston Ives (b. 1948) began his musical life as a chorister in the choir of Ely Cathedral and pursued undergraduate studies at Selwyn College in Cambridge. From 1978 to 1985 he was a member of the King's Singers. Ultimately he was appointed Organist, Informator Choristarum and Fellow and Tutor in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford, a position he held until 2009. For his service to church music he was later awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music.
"There Is a Land of Pure Delight" is a text by the famed hymnwriter Isaac Watts which speaks of our hesitancy to accept the promise of eternal life when our mortal lives have ended. Ives' setting is thus hymnlike in structure and simplicity.
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