Choir of New College Oxford & Robert Quinney - Sheppard: Media vita - BBC Music Magazine

The 16th-century composer John Sheppard belongs to the generation just before the great figures of Tallis and Byrd.

The New College Choir (16 boys and 14 adults) is quite large but its engagingly fulsome sound is kept nicely in focus by the acoustics of the moderately sized church in which it was recorded. Their rich, warm sound comes across best in A solis ortus cardine and in the superb motet Media Vita of the title – the lower voices are in balance and the boys voices gain brightness from the slightly high performance pitch.

However, in general this is a vivid and convincing presentation of a very talented composer.