Page 306 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

2 May 2019

David Mellor’s Album Reviews: Jaako

Luoma, The Sixteen and Strauss

Best bargain

40, The Anniversary collection, The Sixteen/Harry Christophers, Coro

Classic FM has long enjoyed a special relationship with The Sixteen. And if ever there was a
self-recommending issue it is this one.

This generous two-and-a-half-hour, 2 CD set has 40 tracks, one for each year of The
Sixteen’s lifespan, and drawn from some of their most celebrated recordings, by more than
two dozen composers – ranging from Bach and Schutz to contemporary musicians like Sir
James MacMillan.

This is best treated as a sampler, not only of what The Sixteen can do, but also what is out
there in choral music.

The aim must surely be to find a few things that really hit the spot, and then delve a little
deeper, via the complete albums from which these tantalising extracts are drawn.

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