Reviewed by Simon Carpenter

I have to confess a personal connection with this two CD set. I am on one of the tracks on CD 2 as a 10 year old short-trousered member of Guildford Cathedral Choir. If now tell you that I am now married with two children, both of whom are older than I was then, you get some idea of the vintage nature of that recording - it was made in 1968 actually. Even so it is not the oldest recording in the collection. But having said that, how can that be a criticism? They are all great performances and great recordings of some universally accepted great music, selected for Sparrow by an acknowledged expert in the field. Many are performed by King's College Choir Cambridge, as they are all garnered from the EMI back catalogue. Amongst the gems here - aside from Guildford's legendary, gold disc winning, recording of "God So Loved The World" from Stainer's Crucifixion of course that is - are excerpts from Handel's "Messiah", Mozart's "Requiem", a Vivaldi "Gloria" (the well known one) and "I Was Glad" by Parry, Allegri's "Miserere" and so on and so on. My only quibble is that if you do buy this, and I hope you do, use it as a spring board to explore the great world of sacred choral music by investing in the full versions of some of these pieces and other works by these composers. Excellent sleevenotes as well make this a package not to be missed.

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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