A collection of medieval, late Romantic, and modern anthems for choir and organ, Immortal Fire: Music for Female Saints is most likely to appeal to those with serious devotional or practical interests in church music; this is not just background music for "chilling-out," à la Chant or similar albums. Though the reverent tone of most of the works is soothing, the program is not primarily arranged for reflection. Rather, the hymns and antiphons for feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Cecilia, St. Margaret, and St. Ursula are examples of what one would hear at many services, and range in mood from the placid chants of Hildegard of Bingen to the robust choral settings by
Benjamin Britten, with a variety of religious expressions in the pieces by Howells,
Duruflé,
Elgar, and others. This album is not without a meditative side, surely, but it is somewhat livelier and celebratory than might be expected. The finely blended and pure-toned performances by the Girl Choristers and Lay Clerks of Winchester Cathedral, directed by
Sarah Baldock, meet the high standards of British choral singing, and organist Andrew Lumsden plays with a fine sense of the different registrations and styles required. Griffin's recording seems to be at floor level, and the music sounds magnificent in Winchester Cathedral's gloriously responsive acoustic.