Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is a nicely assembled collection from Scotland's largest cathedral that reflects the diverse musical tradition embodied in choral singing. The earliest piece is Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" but it is good to report that seven of the 17 songs are by living composers. This gives the disc a modern feel, which might also be due to the excellent sound quality that gives the music a clear, uncluttered sound. The choir includes girl trebles and is conducted by Matthew Owens with Simon Nieminski on the organ and this reviewer finds nothing to fault in any of the performances. Owens provides the closing track, "Holy Trinity Blessing", which is a first recording of a piece that deserves to be better known. The other first recording is Francis Jackson's introit "Father Eternal" which was composed for the choir to sing on a BBC Radio 3 broadcast during the 2000 Edinburgh Festival. The title track is Rutter's popular "Gaelic Blessing" which is sung in English. It is possible to quibble that the album's title is slightly misleading to those looking for Gaelic music, as most of the songs are in English or Latin along with two German pieces by Brahms. That aside, this is most enjoyable.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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