Anthony Cæsar finds a moving text by the teenage Etonian, Oxford Movement influenced, Digby Mackworth Dolben (1848-1867), who died tragically young while swimming. Canon Cæsar’s anthem is a classic example of the Franciscan principle (observed by lamentably few composers) of true beauty springing from simplicity.

The text inspires a sort of post-Howells harmonic idiom, though with the choir’s part kept remarkably simple. The most inspired moment comes when the opening progression, which sets ...