The distinguished composer and pianist John McCabe has written in almost every genre, and has long been one of Britain’s leading musicians. In his choral music he has taken a variety of texts – including anonymous sixteenth–century Latin, and the poems of Henry Vaughan and Thomas Hardy – and fashioned them into powerful settings. He evokes a rich variety of vocal colours and textures, remaining at all times communicative and vital, not least in the beautiful Marian Carols and the contrasting riches of the Mangan Triptych.

The distinguished English composer Maurice Greene was appointed Master of the King”s Music in 1735. He soon composed a series of 25 sonnet settings taken from the collection of 89 Amoretti (‘little loves’) written by Edmund Spenser, one of the greatest poets of the Shakespearean age. These settings show Greene to have been a master of word–painting technique, and a subtle colourist with a sensitive ear for Spenser’s verse. This jewel of a collection is also historically important, as it can be considered one of the earliest song cycles in the history of English music.

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů excelled in chamber music and made a substantial contribution to the piano trio repertoire of the twentieth century, his keen ear for balance and sonority finding here a perfect medium for his music. Trio No. 1, Cinq pièces brèves, written in an appealing and virtuosic neo–classical style in Paris in 1930, was admired by Stravinsky. Trios Nos. 2 and 3, composed in America in 1951, are more ambitious in scope and notable for their rhythmic verve and unpredictability, ingratiating themes and elegiac slow movements.

Some of the world’s greatest sacred masterpieces are heard on this disc, performed by some of the world’s leading vocal ensembles. The journey ranges from Thomas Tallis’s extraordinary Spem in alium to César Franck’s immortal Panis angelicus. Pergolesi’s Stabat mater is a masterpiece of the early eighteenth century. Mozart, who as a 14 year old had copied out Allegri’s Miserere from memory, is represented by his beautiful Ave verum corpus. It is impossible to omit the Bach–Gounod Ave Maria from a journey that crosses geographical borders and spans the centuries.

Together with Johann Simon Mayr, Ferdinando Paër counts as one of the most important opera composers of his day, and he was unable to resist filling his oratorio on Christ’s Passion, Il Santo Sepolcro with expressive extremes. Pain and grief contrast with joy and hope, and scenes including the terrible hours of the crucifixion, frenzy of the crowd, resurrection and Last Judgment are given potently descriptive music. Originally a prelude to Haydn’s Seven Last Words, Mayr’s Invito is a call to hear Paër’s incomparable narrative.

Giovanni Sgambati was one of the most important figures in the Renaissance of Italian instrumental music that began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Wagner arranged the publication of his first chamber works, calling him ‘a true, great and original talent’. Sgambati’s blending of Italianate lyricism and German rigour led to large–scale works of real historical significance. His overture Cola di Rienzo exemplifies his richness of characterisation while the First Symphony is a major statement of breadth and intensity, admired by Grieg and Saint–Saëns, and often conducted by Toscanini.