Reviewed by Steven Whitehead The reviews of the Choir of Gonville & Caius College already posted show us how consistently good it is, thanks in no small part to its outstanding conductor, Geoffrey Webber who ensures that while singers come and go, as is inevitable in a college choir, the standard remains the same. Thus we can take the excellence of the musicianship as a given and can be equally confident of the audio quality when we see that the release is on Gramophone magazine's Label Of The Year for 2014, namely Delphian Records. With these boxes ticked the only remaining question is over the content, where getting the balance right is crucial. This, too, is excellent with a near perfect mix of old and new. Personally I find a disc of entirely new Christmas compositions almost disconcerting; one of the joys of Christmas worship is giving some of all-time great hymns their annual performance, so a CD with nothing recognisable is a disappointment. But, on the other hand - no doubt you can see where this is leading - a collection consisting of nothing but old favourites can soon seem as stale as a week old mince pie. Happily Geoffrey Webber gets the balance just right on 'Dormi Jesu'. We open with Jan Sandström's sublime deconstruction of Michael Praetorius' "Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen" and journey on to the Venetian lushness of Gabrieli's "O Magnum Mysterium" and the distilled purity of Webern's title track, "Dormi Jesu". This is a seasonal collection which is sprinkled with unexpected gems of more recent provenance such as Edward Higginbottom's jazz-infused take on the traditional "Rocking Carol", Thomas Hewitt Jones's eloquently expressive "What Child Is This?" and the small miracle that is Matthew Owens' re-imagined setting of "The Holly And The Ivy". A personal favourite, and one that was a most pleasant surprise to hear in this context and performed so well, is Webber's own arrangement of "Hills Of The North, Rejoice". All in all this is an interesting collection brilliantly sung with genuine warmth throughout.
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