In addition to accompanying their 2019 Choral Pilgrimage, The Sixteen’s latest disc also serves as a celebration of the choir’s 40th anniversary in an anthology centred on texts in praise of the Virgin Mary in all her facets, spanning music from six centuries and two continents. Harry Christophers guides his choristers from their initial recording roots in 16th-century Tudor repertory through to half a dozen masterpieces dating from the past 40 or so years.

The recorded balance is velveteen, almost, with gentler consonants than some other chamber choirs of similar calibre and a warming, light vibrato from the sopranos. This sound world suits Eric Whitacre’s Sainte-Chapelle perfectly, where the blended tone blossoms into polychromatic splendour.

James MacMillan’s motet O virgo prudentissima takes as its starting point a surviving six-bar fragment by Robert Wylkynson (c1450-1515) in the Eton Choirbook. MacMillan’s setting of Angelo Poliziano’s poem of 1493 is as colourful, inventive and responsive as anything I have heard by a contemporary composer. Listen out for the astonishing vocalising close-harmony female siren voices around 7'20". The disc’s centrepiece is Wylkynson’s 14-minute-long Salve regina, in which he divides the choir into nine parts, each depicting one of the nine orders of angels. This performance is flawless.

As with anything composed by MacMillan, Gabriel Jackson’s Ave Maria setting is utterly compelling. Luscious, floating melismas capture Mary’s grace and blessedness to perfection. John Tavener makes three appearances, including the ‘bonus’ track Song for Athene. Although I love this piece, I felt it needed more ‘fragility’ and a greater sense of ecstatic abandon. Plaudits, however, to the magnificent second basses, who provide a rock-steady foundation.

An enjoyable programme, however, featuring impeccable tuning and a polished choral blend.