Whitehall Choir Recordings
Latest Releases
When Music Sounds | Laugh, Sing, Rejoice
When Music Sounds – our new recording!
In 2026 Whitehall Choir released their new recording When Music Sounds, featuring première recordings of Isabella Leonarda’s Dixit Dominus, Michael Higgins’ When Music Sounds, and Alison Willis’ There is no rose.
Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704) entered the Ursuline Convent in the Piedmontese city of Novara at the age of 16 and remained there all her life. She was a prolific composer, writing approximately 200 works in her lifetime, and she is thought to be the first woman to have ever published instrumental sonatas. This setting of Dixit Dominus is compact, lasting around ten minutes, but it is full of dramatic detail. Written for choir with two violin parts, this rather violent psalm text is given a variety of tone colours and rhythmic excitement.
Award-winning composer Alison Willis is known for her diverse range of works, often incorporating her passion of forgotten voices, particularly those of women, all things medieval and English Folk Music. This setting of the Medieval text, There is no Rose, is reminiscent of medieval chant in the soprano line, with dissonant harmonies in the lower parts. The rousing central section is vibrant and thrilling.
Michael Higgins is a pianist, composer and arranger. Many of his works are published by the Royal School of Church Music and Oxford University Press. This beautiful setting of Walter de la Mare’s poem When Music Sounds was commissioned by Angela and Martyn Wake for the Whitehall Choir in 2024. Michael’s skill as a pianist composer is heard in the exquisite piano part, played by Ian Tindale.
You can listen to the recording by clicking this link: https://bfan.link/when-music-sounds, or searching for When Music Sounds – Whitehall Choir on any music streaming service.
Laugh, Sing, Rejoice
For its long-awaited 4th recording, “Laugh, Sing, Rejoice”, Whitehall Choir chose pieces that either have never been recorded or are less well-known in the UK, in order to help give a higher profile to some incredible pieces of choral music, three of which are by female composers.
The title of the album comes from part of the lyrics of Cecilia McDowall’s joyful and vibrant setting of Psalm 65. This is the premiere recording of this extended work, which was commissioned by the London Pro Arte Choir in 2015. The words of this celebratory psalm are painted vividly in the varied colours of the choir, organ and trumpet. Highly energetic rhythmic sections are interspersed with quieter atmospheric moments.
The album begins with another premiere recording, of a very effective but less well-known work by the famous Welsh composer William Mathias: O Clap Your Hands. The piece was commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry for the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Board of Trade. It was first performed at a Commemoration Service held in St Margaret’s Church Westminster in 1986 by the Whitehall Choir, and thoroughly deserves to be recorded and heard more widely. It is an exciting and energetic work for choir and organ, with gorgeous harmonies typical of Mathias’ music.
Emma Lou Diemer was a wonderful composer – born in Kansas City and who worked in California for nearly the whole of the last century. The 3 Shakespeare texts are “O Mistress Mine” from Twelfth Night, where the singer begs their lover to be content in their current situation together rather than looking around. In “Take oh take those lips away” from Measure for Measure the false lover is told to take their lying lips away. And in “Sigh no more, ladies” from Much Ado about Nothing we tell the ladies not to worry about the cheating men and just sing: hey nonny nonny!
Reena Esmail’s “TaReKiTa” is an exciting rhythmical piece which imitates the sound of the Indian tabla with made-up syllables. Esmail is based in the USA and is of Indian heritage. The piece was written for the ‘Urban Voices Project’, a choir of people who are currently or have recently experienced homelessness in Los Angeles.
To listen to the recording, go to: https://bfan.link/laugh-sing-rejoice
Our CDs
You can purchase these CDs securely online. Click the Buy Now button and select the number of CDs you would like to purchase (up to ten in total – UK deliveries only). For overseas and bulk orders please email sales@whitehallchoir.org
Ascendit – Music from Passiontide to Ascension was recorded by the Whitehall Choir in summer 2014 at St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London EC1. Conducted by Paul Spicer with organ accompaniment by Ian Tindale and solos by mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey and singers drawn from the choir, the music is ‘from that key period of the church’s year’, writes Paul Spicer in the CD notes, ‘from the mid 16th century to the present day, from familiar and much loved pieces to the new and as yet unknown’. Inspiring and beautiful in equal measure, it will provide listening enjoyment at any time of year. Included is the world première recording of Christ on the Cross by Whitehall Choir Young Composer winner, Samuel Parsons.
Ascendit
Music for Passiontide to Ascension
Whitehall Choir
Organist Ian Tindale
Conducted by Paul Spicer
Price: £5 plus delivery
Sample track – Ascendit Deus by Peter Philips
Whitehall Choir’s second CD features little-known Christmas music across the centuries. Recorded at St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London, in early 2009, this CD includes two settings of the Magnificat (by Finzi and Howells) as well as pieces by Palestrina, Bach, Victoria, Mendelssohn and the choir’s conductor, Paul Spicer.
Fairest Flower of any Field
Music for the Season of Christmas
Whitehall Choir
Organist James Longford
Conducted by Paul Spicer
Price: £5 plus delivery
View list of tracks
Listen to extract
…[Whitehall Choir] acquit themselves admirably in another programme that spans the centuries, from Palestrina, Victoria and Byrd to the present day…
Gramophone, December 2009
Whitehall Choir’s first recording in 2007 showcases the drama and richness of music for voices, wind and brass instruments. Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor combines symphonic grandeur with a purity of expression reminiscent of Palestrina. Paul Spicer’s vividly colourful setting of R S Thomas’ poetry makes an exciting contemporary contrast in this new CD magnificently recorded in St Mary-le-Bow church in London.
Anton Bruckner Mass in E Minor
Paul Spicer The Deciduous Cross
Whitehall Choir
With The Brandenburg Sinfonia
Conducted by Paul Spicer
Price: £5 plus delivery
…instrumental writing which is assured, inventive and colourful… a performance which is committed and compelling…
Organists’ Review, October 2007