Reviewed by Dave Massey

The opening of John Rutter's 'Gloria' with it's bare chords in the brass section would be at home in a film score or even in the incidental music to something like Thunderbirds' as Scott Tracy races to the scene of some unknown disaster. Hope I'm not putting you off a work that exudes confidence and joy. Here is a composer who knows what he is writing about and can raise goosebumps at the stroke of his pen. The second movement keeps you on the edge of your seat with uneasy organ riffs that provide an anguished undercurrent to the consonant chords sung by the choir as they pray "Miserere Notis (Have Mercy On Us)", later left to a lone boy soprano. As always, almost as impressive as his scoring are Rutter's dynamics that empower the whole recording with its authority and turns what is essentially a simple work into something of note. The anthems and hymns included on this disc are another thing altogether, also written by Rutter with some nice harmonies and melodic ideas but I think they are too difficult for congregations to sing and not really memorable enough. "All Things Bright And Beautiful" is a brave attempt at mould breaking that merely cracks the shell a bit and would have been better left well alone.