Listening to 21 brief anthems for upper voices one after the other might not be everyone’s favourite way to spend an hour, but my goodness these girls melted my heart with their programme of music from many centuries, including works by six living composers: Malcolm Archer, whose touching setting of ‘My song is love unknown’ opens the album; Paul Bryan (an attractive set of anthems written for St John’s College, Cambridge); Sarah MacDonald (whose haunting, insistent Miserere mei provides a touch of salt just when you need it); Paul Edwards; Mark Blatchly; and Simon Lole (his first published work, The Father’s Love). Many old favourites are here, from Hildegard’s O virtus Sapientiae through Dering’s Duo Seraphim and Parry’s Long since in Egypt’s Plenteous Land to Peter Hurford’s Litany to the Holy Spirit with a descant by the choir’s director. Stand-outs for me: a lovely performance of the first movement of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, with exquisitely delicate chamber organ accompaniment by Mark Swinton; Sir John Dankworth’s jazz-infused Light beyond shadow; the title track, a setting of Psalm 121 by Colin Mawby that was new to me; and the beautifully phrased and balanced Lole piece. Occasional phrases are slightly oversung and there are one or two abrupt gear changes, but that’s surely a sign of the girls’ love and enthusiasm for the music, which shines through every bar.

★★★★