n There is Sweet Music - English Choral Songs 1890-1950. The Cambridge Singers directed by John Rutter.

THERE is something special about an entire recording of choral songs by different composers.

Turn on your music machine and allow yourself to be transported through time.

A couple of centuries can be covered in a matter of moments - there is never a dull one!

And here, John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers have chosen come cracking examples of English songs for chorus.

The first track, The Blue Bird, arranged by CV Stanforth, sets you off on an afternoon walk in the park.

As you come round the corner you're walking with Delius into the path of a startling piece of modern architecture, then back towards a formal flower bed and a neat lawn, hand-in-hand with Elgar.

And so the journey continues - weaving through time and space.

Composers featured on this recording include Vaughan Williams, traditional folk songs with arrangements by Percy Grainger, Stanford, and the piece de resistance in the form of Benjamin Britten's Five Flower Songs.

These are little heard compositions by this great composer of the 20th Century.

However, no sooner will the first of these delightful songs begin than you will be left in no doubt as to their composer. To Daffodils bears all the hallmarks of Britten's choral writing. The use of closely dissonant harmony, rhythmic, dancing patterns, stark dynamics and an innate ability to capture the meaning of the words in a musical picture.

There are distinct similarities to the harmonies used in his Hymn to St Cecilia - the patron saint of music, an undeniably successful formula which allows the music to rise and fall, dovetailing together for moments, then flying off into the rafters, bounding in and out of different keys and tonalities, time signatures and moods.

This is the perfect recording to herald in the springtime and an inspired collection of choral all that is quintessential England.

It is simply beautiful. John Rutter has chosen a series of delightful works, all of which work together in symbiosis.

A journey which will delight all the senses and will not be spoilt on returning time and time again to the same places.

Collegium Records CSCD 505