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There is surely no more quintessentially English sound than that of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, its unaccompanied voices – evocative of immemorial sandstone, of cool cloisters, of evensong in church, chapel and cathedral – serene in the music of Shakespeare’s contemporaries Byrd and Gibbons, ethereal in Delius heard of a summer’s night across the Backs of the River Cam.

No less iconic is the chapel that lends its unique acoustic to that sound. One of the glories of the English perpendicular style of architecture, it was eventually completed in 1547, a little over a century after the founding of the college itself by Henry VI.

This collection opens and closes with coronation music: Zadok the Priest was written for the crowning of George II in 1727, I was glad for that of Edward VII in 1902. Both were so successful that they have been sung at every coronation since their premières. Parry’s ‘processional anthem’ is heard here in its full panoply of extra brass and shouted Vivats, the choir of King’s choir providing the semi-chorus in the exquisite interlude ‘O pray for the peace of Jerusalem’.

In between are motets ancient and modern – from the miniature If ye love me and the architectural splendour of the 40-part Spem in alium to William Harris’s dramatic double-choir Spenser setting Faire is the Heaven; well-known psalms sung to Anglican chant; and favourite hymns, notably All people that on earth do dwell, arranged ceremonially for another coronation, that of Elizabeth II.

As well as national rejoicing there is solemn remembrance. Come ye sons of art away is Purcell’s 1694 birthday ode for Queen Mary, Thou knowest, Lord part of the music he wrote for her funeral just nine months later. John Ireland’s Greater love hath no man is often heard on Remembrance Sunday; Sir John Tavener’s Song for Athene made a powerful impression at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; while John Rutter’s small-scale, personal Requiem touched a wider public following the attacks of 11 September 2001. But ‘Nimrod’ above all epitomises music of national remembrance. Here a choral setting of it, Lux aeterna, represents our ‘Shakespeare of music’, Edward Elgar.

Music from three different eras of King's College: under David Willcocks (1970-77), Philip Ledger (1975-82) and Stephen Cleobury (1984-2002).

This album of sacred a cappella works from recent years - music of haunting beauty, characterised in turns by calm introspection and serene lightness - offers a fascinating addition to the wide spectrum of works by Valentin Silvestrov on ECM New Series. The imprint, recently named ‘Label of the Year’ in the 2009 Gramophone Awards, has championed the Ukrainian master (born 1937) since 2001, but Sacred Works represents a new development by the composer.

Silvestrov’s compositions for chamber choir have a uniquely transparent sound with otherwordly shifting harmonies and free timing. The pieces were written mostly in 2005/06 on the instigation of chorus master Mykola Hobdych and these ravishing performances – displaying astounding flexibility and polish – are very much “authentic”: the Kiev Chamber Choir have repeatedly studied the pieces with the composer and gave the premières of the majority.

Silvestrov’s interest in the choir came comparatively late. Partly due to conductor Mykola Hobdych’s persistent encouragement, he immersed himself more deeply in the choral world and began to study old Russian litanies. Once he had started reading them, he was so fascinated that he wrote some 40 minutes of music within two weeks. By treating the choir as an ensemble of “extremely modest” soloists and dividing the sections into small groups, Silvestrov acquires unique sonic and harmonic effects and an utmost flexibility of melody and rhythm. Its lyrical fluency and introvert tenderness brings Silvestrov’s choral writing close to his much-lauded Silent Songs, to Requiem for Larissa and his music for solo piano.

A varied programme of Christmas music, including familiar and some unfamiliar items, recorded in the largest mediaeval church in Northern Europe with its spectacular acoustic.

First recordings of new carols by Richard Shephard and John Scott Whiteley.

Robert Sharpe’s first recording with the Minster Choir since taking up the appointment of Director of Music at the Minster in September 2008.

Both the Folk Songs of the Four Seasons and this arrangement of In Windsor Forest are world premiere recordings. The Folk Songs of the Four Seasons is a substantial work by Vaughan Williams, over 40 minutes long, for women’s chorus and orchestra. It is the most significant of his works never to have been recorded in any format.

The Folk Songs of the Four Seasons was commissioned by the Women’s Institute and first performed in 1950. The work has a Prologue and four sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The coupling is the rare arrangement for women’s voices, by Guthrie Foote and Vaughan Williams, of the Cantata In Windsor Forest based on choruses from the opera Sir John in Love.

This new Albion recording is issued to mark the 90th birthday of Sir David Willcocks on 30 December, 2009. Sir David is world famous for his recordings for EMI and for his work at King’s College, Cambridge and the Bach Choir. For Sir David to record another major Vaughan Williams disc at the age of almost 90 is remarkable in itself and will ensure national and international interest in this recording.

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, a son of a barber-surgeon of some distinction who was 63 when Handel was born. His aptitude for music presented itself early and he was soon performing to the royalty and aristocracy. At 18 he moved to Hamburg but his real chance to develop his musical talents came when he moved to Rome in 1706. His Dixit Dominus – a setting of Psalm 109 – is now thought to have been written for the festival of Our Lady of Mount Carmel the following year. It shows how well Handel, a German Protestant, had been accepted by his hosts that the Cardinal should commission him to provide music for such a Catholic occasion. Ten years later Handel was in England and the provision of the Water Music for an excursion by barge on the Thames so delighted the new King George I (previously Elector of Hannover) that he duly forgave the composer for his behaviour whilst in his service in Germany.

In 1727 Handel provided four anthems for the Coronation of King George II of which one, Zadok the Priest, has been performed at every subsequent Coronation. The final work in this set is the Music for the Royal Fireworks written to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c1525-1594), took his name from the small town in the Sabine Hills about 25 miles from Rome where he was born. He was the eldest of four children of reasonably well-off parents and went to S. Maria Maggiore in Rome as a choirboy and even remained there after his voice broke. In 1544 he returned to Palestrina as organist and singing teacher but in 1551 he joined the town’s Bishop, who had been elected Pope, in Rome. A mass dedicated to his patron won him a place in the Papal Choir of the Sistine Chapel in 1554 but a year later his patron died and a successor, Paul IV, threw all the married men out of the choir and that included Palestrina. It was in 1561 that the appointment of maestro at S. Maria Maggiore, where he had been a choirboy, gave him the security he needed and his fame as a composer rose consistently thereafter. In all he wrote 104 settings of the mass and 375 motets, this collection, sung by the choir of King’s College in Cambridge, includes four of the most famous masses as well as six motets.