The Choir of Old St Paul’s Church, Paul Newton-Jackson (scholar-in-residence), Calum Robertson (asst dir), John Kitchen (dir)

Old St Paul’s Church / Praxa Studios ★★★★★

Tucked into an awkward site between Waverley Station and the Royal Mile, Old St Paul’s Scottish Episcopal Church (OSP) is one of Edinburgh’s best-kept secrets. This double CD takes us up the steps and into the beautiful building to eavesdrop on its two feasts of title, the Conversion of St Paul in January and St Peter and St Paul in June, presenting a compendium of the music typically performed by its young choir at High Mass, Solemn Evensong and Benediction on those occasions.

Highlights include world premiere recordings of a mass setting Tu es vos electionis Sanctissimae Pascale by Cristobál de Morales (c.1500–1553), using an edition prepared by the choir’s ‘Scholar-in-Residence’ Paul Newton-Jackson, and of a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis from the Leiden Choirbooks by the 16th-century Flemish composer Johannes Flamingus (d.c.1598), using an edition by Newton-Jackson and Rowan Hawitt. But I was equally entranced by director of music John Kitchen’s setting of a poem by Alan Spence written to sit alongside Alison Watt’s painting Still in the Memorial Chapel at OSP; by assistant director of music Calum Robertson’s anthem Liturgy, setting a poem by Irene Zimmerman, and his performance of James MacMillan’s clarinet solo For Galloway.

Psalms and hymns are performed with as much care as the less familiar works. There is a wonderfully collaborative feel to this music-making – Kitchen and Robertson have worked together at OSP for many years and share the roles of conductor and accompanist on these discs, with no indication in the track listings of who is taking which role. The shimmering candles on the festal cake are provided on more than one occasion by the Zimbelstern on the church’s Willis organ; and Kitchen does allow himself to be credited with the spectacular performance of the Toccata in E minor Op 29 by the Belgian composer Joseph Callaerts (1830–1901) that concludes this evocative and wonderfully varied sequence.

This review originally appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Choir & Organ magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today