David Bednall, The Exon Singers, Matthew Owens - Francis Jackson: Sacred Choral Works (2006)

Now in his early nineties, Francis Jackson remains one of the finest, best loved and most versatile church musicians of our age. The eleven works on this disc, none of them previously recorded, have all the colour, emotional depth and attention to structural detail that are consistent hallmarks of his style. Working closely with the composer, The Exon Singers bring their customary blend of virtuosity, intense commitment and subtle responsiveness to this portrait in sound of a very special composer.

Francis Jackson is very much the elder statesman of the British organ community…and while his organ pieces are well represented on disc, his choral music is less well known. Yet his output for choir is both extensive and wide-ranging, as this superb new disc reveals. The other major work here is the Evening Service…This is a noble setting sung here with magnificent expansiveness by the group for whom it was written…this presents as touching and rewarding a compendium of very English 20th century church music as one could wish for