For a composer born into a Nonconformist family, William Mathias’s output for the Anglican Church was both generous and substantial. Probably because he spent almost his entire life living and working on the periphery of the Anglican choral tradition, his approach to the genre was refreshingly uncluttered by the accumulated baggage of centuries of tradition, even if at times he could be accused of falling back too readily on his own tried and tested ideas: dancing fifths, jaunty melodies, angular quasi-modal themes. Any hint of sameness is avoided by this cleverly planned programme, which presents the works as a well-proportioned suite, with the brighter outer movements encasing a somewhat darker-hued central episode (comprising the Missa brevis and Ave verum corpus), itself framed by the two solo organ pieces.

What shines through this entire programme is Mathias’s life-affirming energy and his unquenchable streak of optimism. I’m struck particularly by his penchant for setting the word “gloria”; it crops up no fewer than 12 times in the two minutes it takes to get through the immensely jolly Lift up your heads, O ye gates and is the true climax of the unashamedly happy Let the people praise thee, O God. All this is matched by vividly upbeat and arresting performances from the Wells Cathedral Choir, and although the rhythmic edge might occasionally seem a little blunt – perhaps Matthew Owens is a little more respectful of the traditional Anglican reserve than was Mathias – these are superbly polished performances that, together with Jonathan Vaughn’s jovial accompaniments and lively solos (I take my hat off to his impeccable articulation of the semiquavers at the end of the Processional), provide a fine showcase for one of the late 20th century’s more distinctive composers for the church.

Only in one area does this release fall short of Hyperion’s usually high standards. Overburdened with tired clichés and handy suppositions, the booklet-notes also include at least one factual error: Whitland is not in Dyfed – that geographical region having ceased to exist in 1996.