Kodály’s Missa brevis, first performed in this version to the accompaniment of distant gunfire during the siege of Budapest, while the composer and his wife took refuge in the cellars of the opera house, frames a programme of luscious Lenten music ranging from Lotti’s 8-part Crucifixus, famous for its luxuriously long and indulgent suspensions, dissonances and resolutions, to the world premiere of Via crucis by Peter Relph. Commissioned by The Handful in 2019, his setting of the Stations of the Cross is designed as a meditative procession with melodies inspired by medieval plainchant, Cumbrian folk song and contemporary classical music.