A Highly-Charged Occasion

David Fanshawe's 'African Sanctus',
heard by MIKE WHEELER

The Matlock-based Derbyshire Singers don't appear in Derby as often as they used to, so this [10 July 2010, Derby Cathedral, UK] was a welcome opportunity to hear them again after a gap of several years. Sadly, their performance of David Fanshawe's African Sanctus became a memorial to the composer, who died at the age of sixty eight only a few days before, following a stroke.

It was, naturally, a highly-charged occasion, with a brave appearance by his widow, Jane, who read the introduction that David had prepared, intending to deliver it himself...

DAVID FANSHAWE