The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Christopher Allsop & Richard Marlow - The Songs of Angels (1996)

The album "The Songs of Angels" (Conifer Classics, 1996) is a conceptual collection recorded entirely by the upper voices of the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, under the direction of Richard Marlow.
Unlike typical retrospective compilations, this disc was conceived as a unified thematic project, even though some of the material was recorded during different sessions.
The central idea of ​​the collection is to showcase the evolution of sacred music for upper voices—performed both a cappella and with organ accompaniment—across eight centuries. The collection is organized into historical segments:
Early Music and Gregorian Chant: Works by Hildegard of Bingen (*O ignis spiritus Paracliti*), 13th-century English chants (*Edi beo thu, heveme quene*), and the *Missa 'Cum iubilo'*.
The Renaissance and Baroque Eras: Polyphonic works by William Byrd (*Rejoice, rejoice in Christ*), Michael Praetorius (*Vom Himmel hoch*), and Claudio Monteverdi.
Romanticism and the 19th Century: Rare choral works by Giuseppe Verdi (*Laudi alla Vergine Maria*) and Johannes Brahms (*Psalm 13, Op. 27*), alongside a piece by Michael Haydn (*Salvete flores*) that bridges the preceding era.
20th-Century French and British Music: Significant selections by Gabriel Fauré (*Messe basse*, *Ave verum*), Camille Saint-Saëns (*O salutaris hostia*), and Benjamin Britten (*Missa Brevis, Op. 63*, *A Hymn to the Virgin*). An anthology of works for upper voices by composers ranging from Hildegard von Bingen to Benjamin Britten, compiled in part from previous Conifer Classics releases, with additional tracks recorded specifically for this edition.