Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Malcolm Archer - 22 Great Hymns from St. Paul’s (2007)

Because exceptional recordings of Christian hymns are always in great demand, this 2007 collection from Griffin should satisfy most listeners' needs for its high-quality performances, well chosen program, and first-rate sound quality. While these hymns are largely drawn from the Anglican hymn book, several have been selected from hymnals of other denominations and are familiar to many church-goers; a number of these hymn tunes were written by famous composers, such as Jeremiah Clarke, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, John Stainer, Herbert Howells, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose important contributions to the English Hymnal are well known and duly represented. The singing of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir is impeccably British in its purity and crisp enunciation, and the direction of Malcolm Archer and organ accompaniment of Huw Williams keep the music moving forward with natural expression, even pacing, and reverent dignity. Griffin's reproduction captures the full sound of the choir and the organ in the highly resonant space of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the long reverberation at the hymns' closing cadences is quite impressive; yet everything is clear and perfectly audible, with almost no blurring of tones or accidental noises.