There’s a real sense of exhilaration to ‘Then and There, Here and Now’ – the 40th-anniversary album by America’s all-male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer. The group’s 12 singers move from Palestrina to Gershwin, via gospel, Appalachian folk, jazz and contemporary choral with utter plausibility and apparently equal ease; not bad for a group originally founded for historically informed performances of polyphony. You wait for that slight disconnect, the cringe that comes from trained singers aping the untutored tone of popular genres, and it just doesn’t come in performances that combine serious technique (and a four-octave range spanned at the upper extremes by some of the best countertenors in the business) with an unfussy directness.

A ‘best of’ collection of repertoire is mostly recorded fresh, with the occasional re release also in the mix. Best is the secular music, where there’s a consistent sense of off-duty fun, whether they’re singing Morley’s Now is the month of maying (actually joyful rather than just camp) or Sholom Secunda’s Bei mir bist du schön, and Kirby Shaw’s slick arrangement of ‘Summertime’ is a standout, thanks to ravishing solos from countertenors Cortez Mitchell and Timothy Keeler.

If there’s a tiny gripe (and it really is tiny), then it’s that the studio recording flattens the tone out a bit too much. Michael McGlynn’s earthy Dúlamán (which has a properly percussive kick in Anuna’s own recording) here sits a little too lightly in the space, as do some of the feistier spirituals.