Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) and Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) are easily bracketed together. Both were active in the early years of the 20th century, both were influenced by Ralph Vaughan Williams, both wrote within the choral tradition of the Church of England although neither of them was conventionally Anglican. On this collection we get most of the sacred choral works by both composers suitable for liturgical use including the much loved "God Is Gone Up" and "Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice" (both Finzi) and the beautiful a cappella "Nunc Dimitis" by Holst. Also included is a good selection of rarely sung works by both composers although, to be accurate, mainly by Finzi who gets a total of about 50 minutes compared to Holst's 20. Of the lesser known pieces it is Finzi's setting of the "Magnificat" that most appealed to me but there was nothing there that was not pleasant on the ear. Yet again the Winchester Cathedral Girls' Choir and Lay Clerks give a splendid performance under Andrew Lumsden, this time with organ accompaniment from Simon Bell. Winchester Cathedral's glorious acoustic allows the voices to soar up to the heavens and yet again producer Gary Cole has captured the magic for us. If I have a reservation it is that any listener with any sort of collection of choral music may well have the key pieces from this album on other CDs. I know I have but the performance on this disc is as good as any and I, for one, am happy to have this duplication. Given the high production and performance quality along with the mid-range price of this CD it is well worth hearing.

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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