Several new versions of Tye’s Missa Euge bone have appeared since the Winchester Cathedral Choir first released this disc of Tye’s Cathedral music in 1991. However, and notwithstanding Jeremy Summerly’s splendid Naxos offering with the Oxford Camerata, in my view none matches the Winchester recording for sheer vitality and sonic brilliance.

Victoria was the greatest Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. Compared with the prolific Palestrina the number of his works is not great; compared with Byrd, Victoria’s music is not so varied or wide ranging. Indeed, placed beside the enormous output of Lassus, Victoria’s achievement seems to be very restricted; there is none of the dazzling virtuosity and broad culture, none of the extraordinary diversity. Yet, in its narrow specialization in strictly liturgical or devotional function, Victoria’s music is not only the most perfectly suited to its purpose, but the most perfectly styled and fashioned of its kind, its emotional heart perfectly in accord with Roman Catholic liturgical ceremony in the Tridentine Rite. Even more than Palestrina’s, Victoria’s art is an expression of Catholicism as defined by the Council of Trent.

It was only recently established by bibliographical analysis that William Byrd’s three settings of the Ordinary of the Mass—in three, four and five parts—were almost certainly published in the early 1590s, coinciding with Byrd’s move from London to a Catholic enclave in Stondon Massey, Essex. The Mass for five voices, scored for treble (or soprano), alto, two tenors and bass, is thought to have been the last of the three to have been composed, probably in late 1594 or early 1595, and is, by any reckoning, a masterpiece. It is probable that Byrd composed his Latin liturgical music for use in the domestic chapels maintained, often at considerable personal risk, by recusant Catholic families. Here they would probably have been sung by a small group of singers, perhaps one to a part.

This recording has a huge advantage over most of its rivals for the attention of Tallis listeners: the wonderful acoustics of Winchester Cathedral. In this magnificent space, the soaring lines and resplendent harmonies of Tallis's greatest masterpieces find sympathetic resonance, resulting in a heightened dramatic presence that takes the music beyond earthly confines. Of course, beyond the exceptional quality of the writing, credit must go to the phenomenal men and boys of Winchester Cathedral Choir. Where, even in England, does one find trebles who sing with more assuredness, musicality, and beauty of tone? With a repertoire including "In ieiunio et fletu," "Salvator mundi," "In manus tuas," "The Lamentations of Jeremiah," "O nata lux," and the unbelievable 40-part motet "Spem in alium," this is the Tallis disc to own if you're buying only one.

Schütz’s ‘Christmas story’ is an absolute delight from beginning to end, its charming tableaux of angels, shepherds and wise men completely belying the composer’s old age and constrained circumstances. Here it’s the jubilant climax to a programme of Christmas motets from the 1640s.

It is my opinion that Jean Langlais has written some of the noblest, richest and most awe-inspiring sacred music there has ever been. He wrote more organ music than J. S. Bach, and most of it is as suitable for liturgical performance as sung music. His style is a powerful mixture of chant-like motifs (including actual quotations from Gregorian chant), organum, and bold dissonances that give way to pure, radiant tonality. He draws on a wide range of expressions too, from radiant and blazing to quiet and ecstatic. He was truly a craftsman of the highest calibre, and a credit to the distinguished musical heritage of his native France.

It was The Bach Choir (under Sir David Willcocks) which played an important role in helping rehabilitate the Missa Sabrinensis, and this fine recording with David Hill marks a significant new chapter in the work’s performance history.

These 2 discs offer the music of 3 different choirs and 4 different times periods. CD 1 features the Choir of King's College, Cambridge,performing 4 Coronation Anthems: Zadok the priest; My heart is inditing; Let my hand be strengthened and The King shall rejoice. Recording Date:August,1963.

'Carmina Burana' stands tall as one of the great 20th-century masterpieces of choral music. Well-known for it's opening theme "O Fortuna," the work has garnered critical acclaim since it's inception in the 1930's. Carl Orff composed the material from a collection of 13th-century Latin and German poems written by Benedictine monks in Beuren and the melodies are at times tender, full of beauty, yet scandalous in nature.