"...Performances, from start to finsih, are well done and enjoyable, with some exceptionally sweet-toned solo work from young Laura Hicks. The St Albans Abbey Girls Choir can stand toe-to-toe with all but the top handful of England’s boy-treble cathedral ensembles. Well-engineered sound and a serviceable booklet wrap up a worthwhile package."

 

Lindsay Koob - American Record Guide - January/February 2013

 

"On their showing here, St Albans Abbey Girls Choir can stand comparison with the best boys’ choirs, even if their sound is slightly different (if anything more human) ... The gain here is that we hear Mendelssohn’s impeccable, expressive part writing, which the lay clerks clearly relish. Throughout, great care has obviously been taken over words and phrasing. The purity and steadiness of the girls’ voices are in themselves utterly delightful."     **** 

 

Roger Nichols - BBC Music Magazine - October 2012

"...generally excellent performances that are well recorded and well presented. The best known item here—Hear my prayer—is given a very committed performance that can stand comparison with almost any. Here and throughout the disc a listener unaware of the performers would be likely simply to assume that this is a traditional cathedral choir of boys and men. The other vocal soloist is the tenor Philip Salmon who sings the unaccompanied start of the Ave Maria with formidable strength ... There is one item for solo organ, played by Tom Winpenny; Peter Holder accompanies elsewhere where necessary. The Allegro, Chorale and Fugue is a fine piece not published in the composer’s lifetime and rarely played in concerts. This clear and energetic performance brings out its best qualities and is one of the highlights of the disc. All in all this is a refreshing, enjoyable and well filled disc which can be commended to anyone who wants to explore the composer’s choral music further." 

 

John Sheppard - MusicWeb-International.com - December 2012

"The longest piece here, and the most famous, is Hear My Prayer. For many years impossible to dissociate from the recording by Ernest Lough, it’s sung with a touching naivety by Laura Hicks. The rest of the disc consists of music for both women’s and mixed voices…The Three Motets for female voices and organ, Op 39, are performed with a pleasing freshness ... More successful are the mixed-voice pieces, where the girls are complemented by the mature voices of the lay clerks. Best of all is the wonderful sonority of the eight-voice a cappella bookends, the Six Anthems and the setting of Psalm 43, Richte mich, Gott. And Winpenny’s organ solo is of a comparable splendour."

 

Richard Lawrence  - Gramophone magazine - October 2012