Treorchy Male Choir: The Lost Chord

[From 'Songs You Love', a highly-recommended but increasingly
hard-to-find 1971 LP that was never released in CD format.]

Sir Arthur Sullivan composed the music for this Adelaide Anne Procter poem in 1877, while sitting at the bedside of his brother Fred -- in fact, his manuscript was dated only five days prior to Fred's passing. (And yes, this is the same Sullivan best known for the comic operettas he created with his theatrical partner, W.S. Gilbert.) Fred's impending death clearly had a big impact upon Arthur Sullivan, strongly inspiring him to finish setting Procter's poem to music -- a task he'd attempted five years earlier, but never completed.

Sullivan originally scored The Lost Chord for solo voice with piano. Many famous singers of the time performed and/or recorded it this way, including American contralto Antoinette Sterling, Dame Clara Butt, and Enrico Caruso. Newer arrangements are often more elaborate; examples on YouTube range from smaller ensembles like the early-music group Convivium, all the way up to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Vocal Majority, accompanied by organ and even full orchestra.

This 1971 recording of The Lost Chord, performed by the world-famous Treorchy Male Choir of Wales with organ accompaniment, still remains my favorite. Their arrangement is well-suited to Procter's emotional lyrics, such as "the sound of a great Amen" that "flooded the crimson twilight". Later, a transition to full organ with a big ritard in tempo brings out the significance of "that one lost chord divine, which came from the soul of the organ and enter'd into mine", and continuing through the powerful final stanzas. (Try listening to this on a good audio system without getting goosebumps!)

Note that this older arrangement of The Lost Chord is different from the one found on current Treorchy Male Choir CDs, and I much prefer it.