It is fitting that this recording includes two selections from Elijah (1846), the greatest choral work from the composer chosen by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as its namesake. These excerpts are performed in Mendelssohn's most generally admired style, his "seraphic" vein, as Bernard Shaw termed it. Three 20th-century works whose closing moments are included here concern themselves with the agony of war and the hope of peace: Honegger's Cantate de Noël, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, and Glick's choral symphony The Hour Has Come. The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir was founded in 1894 by Augustus Vogt and is Canada's most enduring musical organization. Beginning in 1964, the 200-voice ensemble was led by the late Elmer Iseler up to a year before his death in 1998. Dr. Iseler was also the founder of the Festival Singers of Canada and its Conductor from 1954-1978.

Ludwig van Beethoven Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra, op.80 Ludwig van Beethoven Hallelujah Johannes Brahms How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings Antonin Dvorák Eia, Mater Gabriel Fauré Sanctus Srul Irving Glick The Hour Has Come (Excerpt) George Frideric Handel Praise the Lord with Harp and Tongue Franz Joseph Haydn The Heavens Are Telling Arthur Honegger Laudate Dominum Felix Mendelssohn For He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee Felix Mendelssohn He, Watching Over Israel Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Hostias Ralph Vaughan Williams Nation Shall Not Lift Up a Sword