"In Praise Him with Trumpets Neil Brough and Jo Harris set the tone brilliantly from the start, with sparkling, dancing fanfares which resonate vividly in the acoustic of Clifton College Chapel in Bristol. The choral writing builds to an equally extrovert climax, with the Bristol Choral Society singers rising to the occasion.

The Festal Te Deum is a rousing closer, only re-discovered in 2018 after being lost for nearly 60 years. Again the trumpets set the tone of vivacious celebration and the again the choir finds an appropriately buoyant reading, subsiding to a touching fade-away ending. Grace-Evangeline Mason’s A Memory of the Ocean has a different, more reflective tone... it gently unfolds with hymnic choral chords decorated by piano arabesques and impassioned cello lines.

Cecilia McDowall’s Four Shakespeare Songs are sung with poise and crystal clarity. “What ‘tis to love” has a lovely languidness, while “Give me my robe” has the assertive rhetoric of a miniature dramatic scena. Of the rest, Holst’s Psalm CXLVIII was a very enjoyable new discovery, and it’s always good to hear Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, garlanded with excellent solos by choir members Emily Wenham, Phillipa Thomas, Robert Jenkins and Lawrence White, all making the best of their solo spots."