Edmund Rubbra was a unique voice in 20th-century English music, using a harmonic palette distinctively his own, though not one that has always found universal favour. Here, Harry Christophers and the Sixteen make a convincing case for a reappraisal of his choral music. They leaven the sometimes bracingly austere Tenebrae Nocturns from 1951 and 1961 with the meltingly lovely Five Motets from 1934, a triptych of similar miniatures from 1952 and the spectacular 1945 double-choir Missa Cantuariensis. Each piece is sung with the purity and sincerity we have come to expect from one of the UK’s most treasured and respected vocal ensembles.
