Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The first recording of Lichfield Cathedral Choir under new director Philip Scriven.
It is a tough market for Christmas CDs and each release needs something to make it stand out from the crowd. If you live in the Lichfield diocese you might wish to support your local cathedral choir but the rest of us will be listening for that something special to make us pick this one. The key will be one of two P's: performance and programme and there are no complaints on either account. However the singing has to be described as competent rather than superb and, vocally at least, there are better CDs to consider although it has to be said that there are plenty of worse ones too. Alexander Mason, the organist, gets three solos including Cochereau's wonderful "Sortie sur Adeste Fideles" that closes the programme, appropriately after the hymn "O Come All Ye Faithful". The material presented is well chosen and is arranged in four parts: "Advent", "The Virgin Mary", "Nativity" and "Shepherds/Wise Men". There are old favourites, such as "See, See, The Word Is Incarnate" by Orlando Gibbons and "Angelus ad Pastores" by Orlande de Lassus, more recent works including Warlock's "Adam Lay Ybounden" and Tavener's "Magnificat" and some surprises: "Parry's "Never Weather-Beaten Sail" and Chilcott's exciting "Nova! Nova!" stand out for me.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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