Simon Preston and the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (19CD)
When he arrived at Christ Church, Preston was very much the “new broom”. His intelligence and erudition as a scholar together with his innate superhuman energy re-vitalised the choir with a verve not often apparent in the genteel world of English cathedral music and it was not long before there was an ambition to make recordings, the first of which was of Walton’s music. With a judicious choice of repertory, the subsequent discs garnered excellent reviews and the cathedral choir began to be recognised as one of the finest collegiate choirs.
Together they set down acclaimed accounts — often with the period instrument specialists of the English Concert and the Academy of Ancient Music — of composers from Haydn back to Handel and Purcell, and beyond to Lassus and Palestrina. The discs in this set — their complete recordings on the Argo and L’Oiseau-Lyre labels — are testimony to Preston’s remarkable achievements there.