“At the heart of this sequence of pieces,” writes countertenor/choir director Daniel Taylor in the notes to his second seasonal album with the Trinity Choir, “lies a stillness which makes room for the heart’s awakening.” I’m not sure I experienced the requisite awakening, but Taylor’s “spiritual journey” plots an innocuous route through Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin, Jean Mouton’s 16th-century Nesciens Mater, a couple of plainchants, eight short hymns by Arvo Pärt, two by John Tavener. As Christmas albums go, it’s a classy selection and Taylor’s Trinity voices sound creamy and plush in the ultra-resonant St Augustine’s Church in Kilburn, north London. It’s a bit mushy on inner voices, and probably more concerned with making phrases glow and float than keeping things moving, but there’s no risk of jagged edges or abrupt tempi to disturb your fireside hygge.
