Lux Stellarum (Light of the Stars) is a short requiem for choir and organ, originally written for Zach Ullery, Andrew Dewar and the choir of the American Cathedral, Paris and lasting just 28 minutes. Based on plainsong melodies throughout, it interpolates biblical passages about stars and the universe with the Requiem, Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and In Paradisum, a poem called ‘Stars’ by Majorie Pickthall which forms a movement in itself, and a few lines from John Donne’s ‘Bring us, O lord God’, adapted by Eric Milner-White.

The ethereal opening calls to mind the Vaughan Williams’ G minor Mass sprinkled with stardust from the organ’s flutier pipes and grounded in earth by its bass resonances. The Requiem eternam text leads into a setting of ‘Seek him that taketh the seven stars’ that is an obvious reference to Jonathan Dove’s, and ‘Hear thou thy servants when they call’, which follows on from the Kyrie, has a similar echo of Bairstow. I’ll leave listeners to find their own musical references in the remaining four movements. The result is charming (though that’s not quite the word for the unexpected but appropriately French-style organ postlude) and effective if slightly disconcerting – the work would certainly make a very moving Requiem for a lover of choral music who couldn’t decide which famous setting they wanted to be performed at their funeral, and the performance is flawless.