As with all of The Sixteen’s releases, this new one manages to magically bridge the old and the new with ingenuity and complete integrity. The concept of building an album around the Meditations of John Henry Newman has, to my knowledge, not been attempted before.

The five new choral works are the fruits of the generosity of the Genesis Foundation. Will Todd’s I shall be an angel of peace is cast for double choir (which automatically heightens the opportunities for luscious textures, fully realised). It is further enhanced by a wonderful violin obbligato, which stitches the text together, played with utmost poise and intensity by Sarah Sexton. Anna Semple’s A Meditation weaves close harmonies, clear changes of texture and a fondness for reiteration into a rich, contemplative tapestry.

In a fascinating study in contrasts, Eoghan Desmond, Lisa Robertson and James MacMillan all set the same text, entitled Nothing in vain, a refashioning of Newman’s A Meditation on Trust in God from prose into poetry by Robert Willis, the recently retired Dean of Canterbury Cathedral. Whereas Desmond’s beautifully affecting setting grows organically layer by layer into a passionate plea for peace, MacMillan’s double-choir writing is much more intuitively contrapuntal, flavoured, naturally, with a healthy dose of Celtic inflection. This, the longest track on the disc, is also noteworthy for Jeremy Budd’s stunning tenor solo.

Of the longer-established works, a trio of Elgar’s anthems are given first-rate performances. Great is the Lord dates from the same period as the Violin Concerto. I was struck by how indebted Elgar was to SS Wesley and his multi-sectional anthems, such as Ascribe unto the Lord. The dramatic coherence of Give unto the Lord is not underplayed. Finest of all, though, is the unaccompanied They are at rest.

Initially I thought the inclusion of three hymns (to Newman texts) by Boyce, Terry and WH Harris slightly incongruous. However, Harris’s Alberta (‘Lead, kindly light’) is sung with such tenderness and poignancy that any such concerns are quickly dispelled. Another of the album’s great pleasures is Simon Johnson’s superbly note-perfect organ-playing. He conjures a host of beautiful quasi-orchestral effects from the Temple Church’s Harrison and Harrison.

A generous programme both in length and breadth and a joyful inspiration. Congratulations to Harry Christophers, his wonderful singers and the Coro production team.