Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Rochester Cathedral is the Mother Church of the second most ancient diocese in England, dating back to 604. According to the Venerable Bede, Bishop Putta, who was enthroned at Rochester in 669, had been taught music by Pope Gregory. We do not go that far back in time in this collection, with the earliest composers featured being Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) with the lovely "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" and George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) with the famous "Hallelujah" from his 'Messiah'. And here lies a problem. How many readers interested enough in choral music to read this review do not already own recordings of these great works? I enjoyed hearing both again and while the Rochester take is not the best in my collection neither is it the worst and as part of a wide-ranging programme they offer a welcome contrast to the less familiar material. Many of the other composers are almost as well-known as Bach and Handel including Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) with "Insanae Et Vanae Cura" ("Vain And Raging Cares") and Edward Elgar (1857-1934) with "The Spirit Of The Lord" from 'The Apostles'. We hear five living composers with Howard Goodall (born 1958) being best known with his setting of part of Psalm 23 which you may recognise as the theme from a television programme about a female vicar in which, in my opinion at least, the music is the best thing. The Cathedral Choir is made up of three parts: Boy Choristers, Girl Choristers and the Lay Clerks. The boys sing the majority of the choral services during term and are all educated at King's Rochester Preparatory School. The Girls' choir was founded in 1995 with the singers attending a variety of local schools and taking a regular part in the weekly schedule under Claire Innes-Hopkins. The Lay Clerks provide the alto, tenor and bass parts to the chorister treble line and are drawn from a pool of professional singers from Kent and London. On this recording we hear all three parts in various combinations under Scott Farrell with James Norrey providing the organ accompaniment. The programme is not the most exciting we will hear but it is sufficiently varied to show the strength and versatility of the singers.

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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