Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

First impressions are so important and this CD gets off to a good start as soon as we see it: the packaging is splendid with a suitably glorious cover picture and an informative booklet with five pages of helpful notes by Jeremy Cull. But what of the music? The opening track, Parry's "I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me" grabs our attention with Roger Judd's organ solo and when conductor Timothy Byram-Wigfield brings in the choir we know we are in for a very enjoyable 70 minutes. Track two, "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" by Brahms by contrast is much more reflective but equally well sung. This programme gives us an excellent tour of the anthem tradition, covering some five centuries from Thomas Tallis (c 1505-1585), Christopher Tye (c 1505-1573) and John Sheppard (c 1520-c 1563) to John Rutter's "Gaelic Blessing". In between we meet some old favourites such as Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring", Franck's "Pan Angelicus" and Mendelssohn's "For He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee" and several others that are new to me. The singing is excellent and the sound quality superb. If you have an interest in choral music this is indispensable.

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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