This 2014 Hyperion collection of 22 hymns sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey is a straightforward presentation of familiar versions for choir and organ. For the most part, the arrangements are conventional four-part settings, with occasional interpolations of seldom-heard harmonizations and descants, and the performances by the men and boys are appropriately reverent and joyous. The majority of selections are hymns of praise, including Praise, my soul, the king of heaven; Thine be the glory; and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, though Drop, drop slow tears; I bind unto myself today; and Let all mortal flesh keep silence bring a more somber and penitential mood to the program. The recordings were made in late 2012 and early 2013 in Westminster Abbey, so the sound of the album is typically resonant and spacious, and the choir has a well-blended tone, though the trade-off for the glorious acoustics is a loss of clarity in some of the words.



Tracklist:

01. Vaughan Williams: Old Hundredth 'All People That On Earth Do Dwell' (04:49)
02. Goss/Gray: Praise, My Soul (02:35)
03. Irvine/Grant/Ross: Crimond 'The Lord's My Shepherd' (03:06)
04. Rowlands/O'Donnell: Blaenwern 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling' (03:21)
05. Hughes/O'Donnell: Cwm Rhondda 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer' (02:37)
06. Handel/Quinney: Gopsal 'Rejoice, the Lord is King!' (02:29)
07. Purcell/Robinson: Westminster Abbey 'Christ is Made the Sure Foundation' (03:27)
08. Gibbons/Quinney: Song 22 'Love of the Father' (02:34)
09. Gibbons: Song 46 'Drop, Drop, Slow Tears' (01:23)
10. Handel: Maccabaeus 'Thine Be the Glory' (02:48)
11. Howells: Michael 'All My Hope On God is Founded' (03:26)
12. Stanford: St Patrick's Breastplate, 'I Bind Unto Myself Today' (05:21)
13. Parry/Willcocks/Scott (J): Repton 'Dear Lord & Father of Mankind' (03:37)
14. Parry: Laudate Dominum 'O Praise Ye the Lord' (02:33)
15. Wesley (SS): Hereford 'O Thou Who Camest from Above' (02:38)
16. Anon/Campbell (S): Picardy 'Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence' (02:47)
17. Croft/Quinney/Gray: Hanover 'O Worship the King' (02:21)
18. Vaughan Williams/Quinney: Kingsfold 'I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say' (02:37)
19. Vaughan Williams: Down Ampney 'Come Down, O Love Divine' (03:13)
20. Anon/O'Donnell: Lobe Den Herren 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty' (03:03)
21. Monk/Willcocks: Eventide 'Abide With Me' (04:46)
22. Parry: Jerusalem 'And Did those Feet in Ancient Time' (03:06)