Ireland: Ex ore innocentium (It is a Thing Most Wonderful)

Spiritually at home in the liturgy and fine choirs of High Church Anglicanism, John Ireland wrote much loved hymns and carols throughout his life. A fluent Edwardian style can be heard in earlier works such as the Stanford-influenced Te Deum and the Communion Service. The anthem Greater love hath no man took on affecting resonance when sung during memorial services during the First World War, and the ravishing Ex ore innocentium movingly responds to the agony of the Crucifixion in a rich, post-romantic musical language.

This 2-CD set contains an extremely wide range of music for boys' choirs, from the early polyphony of Allegri's Miserere to the present-day popular songs of Prince and Enya. Also included are some interesting works by some great 20th-century composers such as Copland, Britten and Ned Rorem.

The featured choirs are some of the world's most notable boys' choirs, from the Vienna Boys' Choir and the American Boychoir to, perhaps the best-known of them all, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. The most recent of the choirs here is Libera, formed by their conductor, Robert Prizeman, from school boys from around south London.

So, for those who already find the freshness and youthfulness of boys' voices uniquely appealing here is the perfect compilation. For those who have yet to make the discovery this set should prove a delightful musical journey.

A powerful and moving selection of Lent and Passiontide music for upper voices, including new works and arrangements written especially for the Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir.

Concludes with Pergolesi’s perennial favourite setting for two-part upper voices of the Stabat Mater, here performed with intimate accompaniment of period-instrument string quartet and organ continuo, and with solo movements sung by members of the choir.

Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir was founded in September 2006. The 18 girls are in years 9 to 13 at the King's School Ely.

Since 2010, the choir has been directed by Sarah MacDonald, who is also Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

A charming selection of sacred music for treble voices, plus a perennial Irish favourite, Cockles and Mussels, sung with irresistible Gaelic charm by the boy trebles of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.

With varied accompaniment featuring organ, harp, and guitar, this is a beautiful collection of both well-loved, and some unfamiliar, instantly-appealing works for boys’ voices.

The first release for a number of years from St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin – which has the only choir school in Ireland, founded over 500 years ago.

A generously filled disc at with over 70 minutes of music.

An ideal release for the penitential church season of Lent, with music for Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week, sung by the highly-accomplished Choir of Winchester College.

A varied selection of music ranging from the 16th to 20th centuries, framed by Tippett’s heart-rending settings of five spirituals.

Some of the greatest music ever written for the this solemn period of preparation for Easter, including Lotti’s Crucifixus, Tippett’s Five Spirituals, and works by Byrd, Purcell, Duruflé and John Ireland.

This ‘songbook’ is unique to the Schola Cantorum choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey. “Essentially, it’s a showcase for the Abbey trebles,” their Director of Music Benjamin Nicholas explains. “We’ve been assembling our own 'Songbook' for quite a while now – the songs the trebles sing, from time to time, in boys-only concerts, and which they are taught in individual singing lessons. I’ve always been keen to build each boy up as a soloist, not necessarily with the express idea of them singing lots of solos, but so that they can learn to sing in a soloistic way.”

This is evident most of all in the distinctive singing of 11-year-old Laurence Kilsby, whose gifts won him the BBC Chorister of the Year competition in 2009. On this recording, he features as soloist in two Shelley settings by Roger Quilter, the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria and in John Ireland’s beautiful, sincerely-felt Passiontide motet Ex Ore Innocentium from 1944.

The English ‘cathedral’ tradition is defined by the sound and musicianship of choristers: in New College’s case boys aged between 9 and 13. In the space of four years, these children become remarkably proficient musicians. Indeed, we might be forgiven for thinking of them solely as musicians, such is their achievement. But they are both children and musicians. And this recording celebrates their musical and vocal prowess in a ‘snapshot’ year. A mixture of solo and ensemble items surveys a wide repertory from Tallis to Jehan Alain. This recording has a fascinating documentary value, but is much more than that: it is an anthology of wonderful choral works whose musical presentation is given even greater depth by the very special qualities of boys’ voices.

“I really think we're in a choral golden age at the moment. I was inspired by Tenebrae when I heard them in a concert at St. Jude's in Hampstead and just had to get their new 'Allegri Miserere' CD. It's beautifully sung, a wonderful disc that has introduced me to some pieces that I didn't know.” Emma Kirkby