'Psalms are at the heart of our choir’s musical identity. They inform everything else we perform – technically, musically and emotionally'.

So writes Andrew Nethsingha, Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge – and psalms are the focus of the acclaimed choir's latest album. Featuring 13 psalms by composers including Percy William Whitlock, Alan Stephen Hemmings and Robert James Ashfield, they were recorded St John’s Chapel between 2018 and 2022.

You can watch a recording of Psalm 139 set with a chant by Highmore Skeats Jr below – and then beneath the film, Nethsingha expands on just why Psalms are so central to the choir's sound and musical life.

Andrew Nethsingha, Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, on the significance of Psalms: 'Psalms are at the heart of our choir’s musical identity. They inform everything else we perform – technically, musically and emotionally. They are the best medium for a choir to communicate directly with members of a congregation. The Chapel at St John’s is a perfect space in which to sing psalms. The narrowness of the building helps to engender a sense of intimacy and personal dialogue between singers and listeners. The great height and length of the Chapel encourage us to sing with spaciousness, seeking to transport worshippers out of normal earthly time into another realm. For those of us involved in daily services of Evensong the psalms become a way of life, a shared activity, providing a quasi-monastic regularity to our days.

'Members of the congregation enter the Chapel in various mental and emotional states. They may be stressed about an essay, they may be full of joy, they may have just suffered a bereavement. The Psalms affect listeners in different ways. They can be profound and transformational not only for Christians; some psalms can be entrancing and healing. I have heard members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe talk about performing Sibelius symphonies with Paavo Berglund. There was a sense of communion between players and conductor, but the conductor seemed almost oblivious to the audience. I relate to those feelings; in a sense our listeners, our congregation, are eavesdropping on a ritual. Yet there is a paradox because at the same time we want to communicate intimately and clearly with the worshippers in Chapel. Similar considerations apply to a string quartet in a large hall, performing music that was originally intended for private use.'

The Psalms, from St John's College, Cambridge is available now - you can listen below via Apple Music.