The Lost Chord

There are several good performances of this piece on Contrebombarde, but I thought it would be nice to try it on the symphonic sounds of the Wyton House Compton.

Sullivan, best known for the comic operas, wrote some of his finest music in times of pain and grief. He had tried unsuccessfully more than once to set the words of Proctor's poem to music ("I have sought, but I seek it vainly"), until the time when he sat for many days by the bed of his dying brother Fred. On one occasion Fred fell asleep and Sullivan retired to get some rest, whereupon the music came to him in a flash.