Frederick Delius’ two large choral/orchestral works, Requiem (sung in English) and A Mass of Life (sung in German), push the boundaries of their historically religious titles. Delius' settings of texts belie their liturgical functions, instead casting Nietzche’s Zarathustra humanist poetry, all of which seems incendiary.Delius’ 30-minute Requiem is a relatively sombre affair. Set in five sections without break, only the finale lights any fires, and the continuous music certainly feels its length with pensive tempos and easy-going moodiness. The lack of variety is its only detriment though, as the music is lovely in a Delian manner, somewhat post-Romantic in its meandering structure, but almost Impressionistic in its orchestrations and colour.Hickox’s rendition is good, although the classic recordings under Meredith Davies on EMI and Sir Charles Groves live on EMI, both featuring a rapturous Heather Harper, might be more appealing. The EMI remastering on the Davies certainly gives Chandos a run for its money, but of course the mid-60’s stereo sources will not please all, and the pairings of Delius’ Idyll and Songs of Farewell might not be as glamorous, but are worth the time. Regardless, I am not over-enthusiastic for the Requiem, so Hickox suffices just as well as these classic recordings.After 30 minutes of moody meandering in the Requiem, A Mass of Life shows its firm footing in the repertoire with an epic scale that rarely ebbs for too long. At over 90 minutes in length, Delius holds my attention for most of its two lengthy parts; only in the last 30 minutes or so does the continuous music without breaks and deliberate tempo settings wear its runtime. Delius’ writing for chorus is interesting though, often setting the choral textures orchestrally, with fast scale runs and non-lexical text settings that ride the line between choral feature and instrumental texture.Most of Delius’ symphonic choral works feature large roles for soloists and A Mass of Life is no different, with the soloists carrying the most of the texts. The baritone bears the brunt of the solo work, but unfortunately, Coleman-Wright's stony singing is a little heavy in sound compared to his competition, although I think he loosens up as he goes. The others, Evans, Rodgers, and Robison don’t get as much to do, but shine well in their moments and are heard well throughout.The combined choruses get a good placement against the orchestra, and the number of choristers fill out Delius’ writing for double chorus well. The overall chorus sound is a bit diffuse across the sound, a tad homogenous, but this is a bit of nitpicking for a rarely recorded work.The Bournemouth musicians are excellent, and the few instrumental solos and brass features really come out of the texture well. The late Sir Richard Hickox leads well, and of course his expertise in the symphonic choral world lends authority and a firm hand to the proceedings. Chandos’ sound captures all of the performers well and the sound is full of detail.As to competition, A Mass of Life and Requiem have a relative paucity of recordings, but next to Hickox, four others are worth mentioning. Sir Thomas Beecham on Sony and Norman Del Mar live on EMI have a bit more thrust to them, but the sound in both is rather scrappy. My preference has usually lain with Sir Charles Groves on EMI, whose 90’s remastering makes his recording quite competitive. Grove’s soloists are easier to recommend as well, with Benjamin Luxon, whose romantically-tinged baritone quality is much more appealing than Chandos’, and with names such as Janet Baker, John Shirley-Quirk, Heather Harper, and Helen Watts, my attention lies with Groves. More recently, Naxos released a recording of the Mass with the same orchestra as Hickox, plus the Bach Choir under David Hill. Baritone Alan Opie gives a bit more competition to the EMI Groves, but the pairing of Delius’ Prelude and Idyll is lacking in general appeal.Hickox’s survey of Delius’ A Mass of Life and Requiem are easy to recommend despite my slight reservation over Peter Coleman-Wright and my take-it-or-leave-it greeting of his agnostic Requiem. If you can find it, I prefer the more daring cover of the baby over the bland leaves, but that is neither here nor there. In the end, I prefer EMI’s outing with Sir Charles Groves and his lineup of soloists in fine remastered sound, but there is nothing wrong with this Chandos release either, one that is in good sound and led with authority. Recommended.** This review is an update from my original 2006 review of Chandos’ Mass of Life under Hickox found here.