There has been a steady stream of discs from the smaller Oxbridge chapels over many years, recording the standard repertoire on which they predicate their office. These are always interesting insights into what those choirs are doing but often don’t bear too frequent revisitings for the music alone. The Choir of Exeter College, Oxford, is one of very few that has consistently produced performances that stand up as fully professional (especially since the top line moved to women in 2000). It is the only Oxbridge choir to sing three times a week purely under the direction of the organ scholar and it may be that sort of autonomy which means that this disc is so accomplished – an effect escalated by the Stapeldon Sinfonia (a chamber orchestra of conservatoire and university students) and the adept accompaniment of Tim Muggeridge.

Although the primary purpose of the disc is to present the world-premiere recording of Stanford’s lavish and vibrant Mass in G, there is real delicacy, detail and momentum in all the performances, which means its other paragons of English choral music are more than simply one more example of Parry’s Songs of Farewell that doesn’t reach the exacting standards of Tenebrae or the crystalline purity of the choir of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The overall sound is, in fact, only slightly let down by the organ, which is a bit loud for the chapel and, sadly, slightly tired mechanically, sounding a little coarse next to the refinement of the singing.