St George’s Chapel Choir, generally associated with royal occasions, tackles an eclectic mix of anthems under its latest choirmaster, Timothy Byram-Wigfield. The items range from characteristic works from the Anglican repertory to excerpts from popular choral works like Brahms’s German Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah; from Tudor and Elizabethan items by Tallis, Tye and Sheppard to 20th-century anthems by Britten and Rutter. In all these the choir, most atmospherically recorded in the Chapel, demonstrates its current health, with the trebles in particular wonderfully bright.

It is good that such an item as Franck’s Panis angelicus, which can easily be sentimentalised, sounds so fresh thanks to being given in an arrangement with trebles alone. Their freshness is an asset too in the Anglican anthems, starting with Parry’s unforgettable Coronation Anthem for Edward VII, I was glad. The choir offers a counterpart to that in Edward Bairstow’s Blessed City, similarly celebratory, written for dedication ceremonies on Saints’ days.

The originality of Britten’s organ accompaniment for his Jubilate Deo is splendidly caught and the final item, Basil Harwood’s O how glorious is the kingdom, jubilantly begins with a big organ solo, with Roger Judd the excellent organist in all these items.

The a cappella works by Tallis, Tye and Sheppard (the magnificent seven-part anthem Libera nos), demonstrate the choir’s versatility, and the extremes of expression in Balfour Gardiner’s splendid Evening Hymn are beautifully caught. It is good too to have an anthem written for St George’s Chapel by a former choirmaster, Walter Parratt, The Whirlwind, an item that the choir is singing in New York in September as part of the fifth anniversary commemorations of the 9/11 attacks.