Choral works

"Director Andrew Nethsingha shapes a performance [of the Mass] of profound dignity and power, beautifully sung by this always impressive choir. He also programmes several other RVW choral pieces from the same postwar period, concluding with Lord, thou has been our refuge, which moves from darkness into light in an expression of a shared determination to overcome adversity".

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"This is a very fine disc indeed. Andrew Nethsingha has chosen the music with great discernment and conducts it with evident commitment and understanding. The choir sings marvellously from start to finish ... Intonation is true at all times and trebles' tone gives great pleasure. The adult singers are excellent too".

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"This CD amply demonstrates that James O'Donnell passed on to his successor, Andrew Nethsingha, a choir in peak condition. The singing throughout is highly skilled and strongly committed. It's a demanding programme which presents the choir with a wide variety of challenges: all these challenges are successfully met. Most of the music is a cappella, meaning that Peter Holder is not often involved. But in A Special Appeal his contribution is nothing less than spectacular".

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"Vaughan Williams's music has been described as austere, even cold, but one should remember that he conceived it for liturgical use. There is a certain restraint, therefore, a distance between the music and the emotional response that music might be expected to provoke in a listener. This is as fine a performance as any now available. Contrapuntal lines are clearly audible, and the overall balance is exemplary. The choir's sound has exceptional richness and homogeneity. It dispenses considerable power where necessary and makes the more inward passages alive ... A deeply satisfying collection".

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"The choir sounds smaller (though it isn't) than on its previous recording ... This is to advantage at moments such as the pick-up of energy for 'Cum Sancto Spiritu' in the Gloria of the Mass, the timeless heterophony of the Sanctur and the Tudor part-writing of the Agnus. Elsewhere there is a loss of impact".

"James O'Donnell masterminds an account of Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor to rank alongside the finest to have come my way. Not only is his an ideally unforced, lucid conception, ... he also secures singing of effortless poise and heartwarming devotion from his Westminster Abbey colleagues ... Once again, MacMillan's stunningly idiomatic writing for double choir is delivered with the utmost composure and conviction by O'Donnell's home team ... In sum, this classy collection will surely give lasting pleasure".