This wide-ranging programme offers connections and contrasts in music of devotion and consolation. The settings by life-long friends Holst and Vaughan Williams, whilst very different, are highly affecting. The music of Rachmaninov, whose hymn derives from his 1915 All-Night Vigil, and John Tavener is immersed in the ritual of the Russian Orthodox Church. Marian Prayers come from Pierre Villette and Knut Nystedt. The music that gives its name to the title of the disc is the beautiful ‘conversation’ of Roxanna Panufnik.
