Reviewed by Simon Carpenter

After being an all male preserve for several hundred years, since 1991 Salisbury Cathedral has also had a girls choir who now share the singing duties with the boys. The system is working well, for the sleeve notes to this, the first recording of the new set up, challenge the listener to be able to tell when each choir is singing without checking. I must admit, I couldn't tell, which really surprised me. And any lingering doubts I had about girls singing English cathedral music were blown away by the sheer quality of both choirs. Obviously a bit of friendly rivalry is at work here, as well as the excellent training of conductor Richard Seal. The music has all been chosen from the present century; some of it specially written for the boys and the girls, and so not only are the usual names here (Britten, Howells, Leighton) but also Richard Shephard and Richard Lloyd. The producer of the recording, Barry Rose, also features as a composer as well - the girls and men sing a hymn he originally composed for the BBC singers. All in all, one of the best new cathedral recordings I have heard for a while.

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