Albion Records serves up another treat for all Vaughan Williams fans: over an hour’s worth of choral fare encompassing an agreeable variety of genres in conspicuously accomplished premiere recordings. Contents span nearly six decades, from the three wholly disarming ‘vocal valses’ from Tennyson’s The Songs of the Wrens (written for SATB and piano in 1896) to the Three Gaelic Songs of 1954 (featuring translations by Ursula Vaughan Williams). Ursula also provided the text for the stirring Hymn for St Margaret of Scotland (1950), whose fourth and final verse incorporates a descant from the composer’s original manuscript not found in the published version.

High spots elsewhere include an engaging sequence of male-voice arrangements culminating in the nobly affecting The New Commonwealth (from 1943, to the glorious title-theme for Michael Powell’s 1941 film 49th Parallel); a gorgeous setting for SSA and piano of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Sound Sleep’ (1903); the memorable unison tune that clothes Canon George Briggs’s words for A Hymn of Freedom (1939, and aptly described by one contemporary commentator as ‘a very characteristic piece of work by a great melodist who can afford to be simple and direct on a great occasion’); and, perhaps best of all, that magnificent 1913 treatment of Psalm 148, O Praise the Lord of Heaven (first heard in St Paul’s Cathedral under Walford Davies’s lead).

Prospective purchasers can rest assured that these are winningly communicative, admirably disciplined readings from the 23 young singers that make up the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, under their talented director William Vann. Listen out, too, for a stylish contribution from this august institution’s current organ scholar, Hugh Rowlands. Both production (Andrew Walton) and annotation (John Francis) are likewise exemplary. A job well done!