This record brings together some of Orlando Gibbons's most celebrated anthems. It is not the first to have done so; on the contrary, St John's here face stiff competition both from their close neighbours in Cambridge, the choir of King's College under the direction of Philip Ledger on ASV (DCA514, 6/82), and from the Calliope records of the Clerkes of Oxenford (CAL1611/12, 3/79). Choosing between them is largely a matter of taste, since each has its own virtues and idiosyncracies.
As always, the chief glory of the St John's sound is the brazen tone-quality of the choristers' voices, a forthright and self-confident noise that admirably suits Gibbon's assertive lines. Also characteristic is the relatively bel canto style of singing in the lower parts, something I find a little less acceptable, especially when single voices come to be exposed during the solo passages of the verse anthems. On the whole, however, the choir is admirably strong—so strong, in fact, that the (unnamed) consort of viols that accompanies it seems shaky by comparison. All the performances are solid; in places you may find them predictable, but elsewhere George Guest offers genuinely new insights into this well explored music. Listen, for example, to See, the Word is incarnate, where the phrase ''Let us welcome such a guest with Hosanna'' is expertly highlighted by a slight drawing back in speed and an emphatic weight added to the words. My only real disappointment concerns the fact that two of the best verse anthems are sung here (as so often) not to the composer's original words but in Victorian adaptations. The skimpy sleeve-note does not mention that Great Lord of Lords is properly a welcome song that celebrates James I's entry into Scotland in 1617, and O Thou, the central orb a prayer for the King's recovery from ill-health.
Two further matters deserve very brief mention. First, neither side of the record is generous in playing time. Is this the penalty one has to pay for LPs that play at 45rpm? As for the lurid custard-coloured cover, I shall be discreet and describe it simply as 'unusual'.'