Reviewed by Dave Massey

The setting of St Paul's Cathedral with it's "credible acoustics and the inclusion of Allegri's 'Miserere' on this recording make it something special. The 3 second (at least!) echo of St Paul's makes descending scales cascade like so many rippling waterfalls, and produces beautiful harmonic overtones that would have taken many hours to emulate in a studio. The only minus here is that on CD, you can hear the rumble of London traffic in the background! Allegri's miserere was so admired in it's time that the manuscript was kept secret even up to Mozart's day - and it's easy to see why - with its searing top 'C it's a masterpiece of early church music. Jeremy Budd the boy soprano holds his own with maturity although his intonation is sometimes out. The variety of music on the disc is commendable too ranging from 16th century music to Benjamin Britten's (1913-1976) beautiful "Festival Te Deum in E, op 32". I'd recommend this recording to anyone!

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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