Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is the debut recording of the Girl Choristers and Lay Clerks from Winchester Cathedral, directed by Sarah Baldock and accompanied by Andrew Lumsden on the organ as well as playing a solo written by Flor Peeters. The theme is a celebration of the lives and devotion of female saints, especially the Mother of Jesus, and the composers take us from Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century with songs in honour of St Ursula, through to Judith Bingham's "Margaret, Forsaken", a newly-commissioned piece about St Margaret of Scotland. Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, Edward Elgar and Edvard Grieg contribute songs dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Britten and Herbert Howells also remind us of St Cecilia. The singing is excellent and the male and female voices blend together very well. Producer Richard Tanner and engineer Lance Andrews are to be commended for such good and clear sound quality. If you appreciate traditional choral singing I am certain you will enjoy this and those of you who are involved in choral singing may find some unfamiliar pieces to add to your repertoire.

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