If Will Todd wants to be ‘the new John Rutter’, as he has already extensively been touted, then this new disc of choral anthems isn’t going to hurt his cause. Barely 30 seconds in and we’re already squarely in a world of angels, starlight and soothing musical platitudes. There’s no doubting Todd’s skill; his recent Alice in Wonderland for Opera Holland Park and his jazz-infused Mass in Blue have proved he can balance popular appeal with substance. But there’s a void at the musical core of the works of ‘Lux et Veritas’ – the composer’s second collaboration with Nigel Short and his chamber choir Tenebrae – that is hard to overlook.

Melodically unmemorable and texturally repetitious, these anthems feel like a set of variations on a shared theme that the composer himself never quite discovers. We have to wait a good 10 tracks, until the musical narrative of Tidings, for anything approaching counterpoint or rhythmic interest, and any personality in the preceding works is lost in the mist of the English Chamber Orchestra’s soft-focus strings and a piano accompaniment that ripples with the mindless persistence of a foyer water-feature (though it is deftly played by James Sherlock). Even the excellent Tenebrae seem defeated by music and texts (many written by Todd himself) that dissolve into a haze of cuddly spiritual affirmation. The choir lack their characteristic glow and depth of tone. Perhaps this music might more effectively be sung by a children’s choir? In the mouths of adults its bland innocence curdles into something that comes perilously close to cynicism.