Following closely on the outstanding Chandos disc of choral music by Parry with royal connections comes this disc of Parry’s best-known choral works interleaved with Anglican church music by Parry’s contemporary, Stanford. It also marks the welcome return to the recording studio of Robert King and his period-instrument Consort and Choir.

The only two Parry works on both discs are the Coronation Te Deum of 1911, written for the coronation of King George V, and Jerusalem, this time in Elgar’s brilliant orchestration. Predictably, the King’s Consort versions are more intimate than those on the Chandos disc, with the Te Deum less atmospheric but presented in sharper focus, not so much concerned with evoking a coronation service. Jerusalem, which comes at the end of the sequence, is then given with the first stanza sung by the women of the chorus alone and the full chorus taking over for the second, ‘Bring me my bow’; Parry originally asked for a solo soprano for the first stanza, as on the Chandos disc. I was glad, which provides the title for the disc, is also given a performance in the atmosphere of a church rather than of a cathedral but is no less dramatic in its vivid trumpet calls. Blest Pair of Sirens, Parry’s other well-known motet, comes with biting attack.

The four Stanford works are all settings of the Anglican Evening Service. The contrasts are fascinating, with the A major setting of 1880 and the C major with organ accompaniment both relatively simple, compared with the grandly ceremonial settings in G major (with the pure-toned soprano Carolyn Sampson and the bass David Wilson-Johnson as soloists) and B flat, the grandest of all. Clear, well-focused sound, recorded in St Jude’s Church, London NW11.