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The Sacred Flame - Cambridge Singers   

I'll be honest, my mental image of the Cambridge Singers is of rather heavy handed singing, suitable for John Rutter's jolly carols, but not exactly competition for the Sixteen. However in this collection of Renaissance and Baroque they have proved they can do subtlety too. The Monteverdi pieces bounce along with just enough lightness. There's a wonderful range of the best music here. Gesualdo's O vos omnes, for example, is full of 'he can't do that!' moments - it's electrifying. Buxtehude's chunky and jubilant Magnificat adds a little light relief among the exquisite likes of Victoria and Josquin Desprez... and it runs through neatly through Schütz to the (relatively) trendy 'new' music of Mr Bach.

All in all a great collection.

CDs by The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge

This Cambridge college chapel choir has a variable history. At one point it featured the second string boys from King’s College School alongside Selwyn men, while at a later date it was an 8 part, men only choir during the week, supplemented by women from Newnham College at weekends. Now, though, under the directorship of Sarah MacDonald, and with up to 28 men and women in its ranks, the choir has been brought up to be one of the top ranking choirs in Cambridge.

Come out Lazar - Paul Spicer

If I am honest, this reviewer had never heard of Paul Spicer and selected this CD to review because of the choir rather than the composer. (I have to admit to personal interest, as I was once a member of the choir.) However, I was not disappointed in the choice. Paul Spicer’s works are modern but in a lyrical and harmonious fashion - if you like Britten or Howells you will find Spicer’s writing very approachable. It is difficult to pick out specific pieces for praise in this collection of Spicer’s shorter choral works: they are all good. In terms of sheer impact, the title piece is the most dramatic (and long), but I particularly liked some of the little gems like the Christmas sequence and Drop, Drop Slow Tears. Though it can’t rival Leighton’s definitive setting, it is very good indeed. The Selwyn chapel’s acoustic is very dead, but this brings out the precision of the choir in an excellent performance.