Nicola Lisle talks to choir founders Chris Watson and John Duggan

It’s been two years in the making, but a new recording project by the Oxford-based chamber choir Sospiri is finally coming to fruition.

A Multitude of Voices, a collection of new, mainly a capella choral works commissioned to mark the centenary of the start of World War One, will be launched at a special concert at the church of St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road, on Remembrance Day.

Meanwhile, though, fundraising is still ongoing, and Chris Watson and John Duggan, who founded the 20-voice choir in 2006, hope that members of the public will be willing to donate.

“The purpose of the money is to pay the composers,” says Chris, a professional tenor who has sung with the Tallis Scholars, among others, and is director of music at St Edmund Hall.

“We’ve raised quite a lot of money, but it’s a hugely ambitious project. We’re very lucky that people like Cecilia McDowell and Francis Pott were happy to write for us, because they’re friends and they wanted to do it. But we really want to pay them, because it’s their living.”

One of the motivations for the project was the realisation that very little secular music has been written in commemoration of the war.

“I think there’s more of a tradition of commissioning sacred music,” Chris says. “So we made a list of the composers we wanted to ask, and none of them had been asked by anyone else to do it. So I think this CD is unique.”

As well as McDowell and Pott, other composers involved include Alexander L’Estrange, Richard Allain, David Bednall, Gabriel Jackson and Sospiri co-founder John Duggan, with texts by poets such as Edward Thomas, Ivor Gurney and Rupert Brooke.

John’s Urtod (Primal Death), based on words by German poet August Stramm, is the only piece that includes piano trio accompaniment and solo voices.

The CD and launch concert feature the Fournier Trio — currently artists in residence at Wolfson College, where John is creative arts fellow — with soprano Susanna Fairbairn and Chris singing the tenor solo.

John feels that his piece helps to add variety to project. “It helps to broaden it out,” he says. “The title, A Multitude of Voices, is important because we wanted to represent as many different points of view and voices as possible.

“The fact that we chose so many composers means that there are literally 10 different voices of composers interpreting texts. I hope that people will be inspired to look into the war more deeply and get an idea of the scope and immensity of it.”

The launch concert will feature a selection of tracks from the CD, along with the famous Requiem by Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria.

“Going to a concert of entirely new music is not everyone’s cup of tea,” Chris acknowledges. “So it’s good for us to have contrasting styles as well. I’m very excited by the project, and I hope we capture some interest. I hope people are inspired to write more music, and to perform it. Because it’s an enjoyable musical experience, it’s new repertoire, and it’s part of the collective commemoration of the war.”

A Multitude of Voices
Due for release in October
Launch concert on November 9
SJE Arts: www.sje-oxford.org
For more information about the CD and how to donate visit www.sospiri.co.uk