None of the usual collection of well-known carols and their many different arrangements here! Instead, a feast of 'sacred treasures' of the 16th and early 17th cenruries … the 57-strong choir of boys and men (including lay clerks from the Oratory), recorded in St Augustine's Church, Kilburn, opens this CD with Sweelinck's exuberant Hodie in a manner both articulate and beautifully shaped, with excellent blending of the voices. Giovanni Gabrieli's O magnum mysteriurn follows and is sublime, with a tremendous sense of the 'reverential awe' which Charles Cole refers to in the notes. These two pieces set the scene for the rest of the disc, which is indeed a 'magnum mysterium', such is the quality of the singing. Throughout, the tone of the singers, the blend and ensemble of the choir and the attention to the texts are superb, and Charles Cole and Anita Morrison, the voice trainer, are to be congratulated on such a feast of excellent music-making which will easily rival many of our cathedral and collegiate choirs.