Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Now firmly established amongst Oxbridge's finest choral foundations and at the same time certainly its youngest, the Choir of Merton College can be relied upon to present a selection of favourite anthems which similarly combines fresh inspiration with timeless musical values. The choir's fifth Delphian recording in five years again showcases the talents of its joint directors Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Phillips, with Phillips' love of polyphony complemented by Nicholas' flair and commitment in some of the 20th century's major choral works. Book-ending these favourites are Patrick Gower's now iconic Ascension Day anthem "Viri Galilaei" and Jonathan Dove's newly minted "Te Deum", commissioned by Merton College as part of the 'Merton Choirbook', the largest series of commissions of its kind in modern times, created in celebration of the College's 750th anniversary in 2014. Between these we travel back to Tudor times to hear works by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Thomas Morley plus some of the big hitters from the last century including Edward Elgar's "Give Unto The Lord", Hubert Parry's "Blest Pair Of Sirens" and Gerald Finzi's "Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice". If you have much of a choral collection you may well have some if not all of these pieces but Michael Emery in his excellent liner notes makes a compelling case for why choral music continues to flourish even in our supposedly post-Christian society, part of which being because these works are living even though their composers may be gone. The choir is in excellent voice throughout with appropriate accompaniment from Charles Warren or Peter Shepherd on the organ and whether or not some of the music is already familiar to you this is still an excellent release.

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