Reviewed by Dave Massey

Collected on this disk is a selection of the works by Stanford and Howells performed by the Cambridge Singers and conducted by John Rutter. The portrait that it paints to me is one of two accomplished musicians to whom melody was important and both of them use it to great effect in the liturgical straitjacket in which it was placed. There are some beautiful moments in which concessions are made to what was taking place in the world of secular classical music at the time, most notably in the cadences with some enormous, colourful chords ("Magnificat " - Howells). The cover design - a white line on water colour picture of the two men - did establish a few preconceptions in my mind that were rapidly displaced by 74 minutes of quality music and I realised that you can't always judge a CD by its cover.

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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