"My life has been shaped by these Bach recordings, and to all of you who have listened to them over so many years, I say a huge thank you!"

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Now, for the first time ever, Angela's complete recordings of the Bach keyboard works on Hyperion are presented in one collection of 27 CDs covering nearly 25 years of recordings, from 1994 to 2018.

Which leads us to the Hyperion cover, a traditional depiction of The Three Kings which needs little explanation, beyond adding that the original is a (widely copied) pencil and watercolour artwork by the German artist Paul Hey.

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'What sweeter music?' is especially lovely. Written in 1988, it offered, according to its composer, 'the first opportunity I had to put pen to paper for the choir in my long and friendly association with King's College.'

The reviews for the album of Stephen Layton conducting Polyphony were unanimous: 'hard to imagine them better performed'; 'ideal in tone, style and accomplishment'; 'a treat for all Rutter fans'; 'one of the highlights of the year' …

Sometimes, this work encapsulates a genuine confrontation between the suggestions of traditional backgrounds and the composer's artistic individuality in an unresolved contest of matches and mismatches.

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The poem, written by Kerner, reflects on the fate of the poet/singer after death: even if no beloved weeps over his grave, the flowers will wet it with their dew, and the moon will gaze down over it.

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Music has been—and continues to be—an inseparable part of the Abbey's history, central to which has always been the Abbey Choir.

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The image of the Abbey's west towers, which graces the album cover, is from a 19th-century engraving. The towers were the last part of the Abbey to be completed in 1745, although there has been a 'west minster' church on the site for the best part of 1000 years.

It would have been all too easy for the Choir of Westminster Abbey to release yet another compilation of well-known favourites, but the carol collection recorded here is rather more varied. It's certainly too good to limit it to Christmas! Not that there's any lack of seasonal fare.

If the spirit (and sound) of Bartók is seldom far away, Lopes-Graça's own voice and aesthetic emerge strongly in Luís Duarte's recital of solo piano works, which includes three first recordings.

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This new recording remains a powerful reminder that music endures in even the darkest times, and displays as deep an affinity for Elgar's masterpiece as ever, especially under a conductor of Martyn Brabbins's Elgarian credentials.

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