★★★★★ A generous selection in seductive performances from the choir of St John's College, Cambridge... immaculate sound at once atmospheric and cleanly focused

A moving performance from the college where Howells was wartime organist

One of an outstanding series of later English choral music recordings from a great choir at the peak of its form. Also the most atmospheric and terrifying recording of Howells’s best Magnificat setting of them all

Naxos here offers a generous selection, in seductive performances from the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, that match and almost surpass any previous versions

The series should probe to be a timely enrichment of the Naxos catalogue and is off to an excellent start

The St. Johns Choir has never sounded better, and the recorded sound is glorious: clear and clean, but with great warmth and a sense of space. The finely nuanced performances are impressively controlled. This disc is a must-have for connoisseurs of English cathedral music and a great introduction to Howells for the novice

It culminates in Howells's 1963 spine-tingling tribute to President John F. Kennedy, 'Take Him, Earth, For Cherishing', sung here with an exquisite intimacy, rarely enjoyed outside of a live performance