For as long as I can remember – probably about the age of six or seven – I’ve attended Remembrance Sunday, either as a young chorister or later as a face in the crowd. Each year I also privately mark the two minute silence for Armistice Day, and I have to admit to some sadness that it’s seven years since I worked for a company which stopped the whole place at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

As Armistice Day continues to somewhat inevitably fade from the public consciousness, the two conflicts in Iraq and the conflict in Afghanistan have made Remembrance Sunday ever more relevant and prominent. Today we have no choice but to look the human cost of political decisions directly in the eyes – it must be deeply sobering for those entrusted with national leadership.

Anyway, without wishing to be maudlin, whatever your reason for remembrance and reflection today I hope Perotin’s Beata Viscera helps you along your way.

(Starts after 8 seconds of silence. Translation.)