Choral Contemplations: Sacred Introits and Motets assembles works by contemporary English musicians. In his liner notes, Adrian Green, the managing director of Convivium Records explains: “Most of this music has been written by musicians who would never have considered themselves professional or ‘trained’ composers. They have been brought together by their love of music, or philosophy, and of the Christian tradition.”

The featured composers, all experienced musicians, were inspired by Leon MacLaren (1910-1994), the founder of the School of Economic Science (now, the School of Philosophy and Economic Science). MacLaren, who maintained a lifelong interest in music, explored composition in his later years. MacLaren embraced what he called the “natural octave,” based on just intonation, as opposed to equal temperament. All of the composers included on Choral Contemplations are students of MacLaren’s “natural octave” system.

Adrian Green adds: “Three in particular, Bruce Ramell, David Goymour, and David Fletcher, have continued to develop Leon MacLaren’s ideas here, and this can be heard in the way they have avoided problematic tuning issues of just intonation – music which they have termed ‘modist’.”

The works on Choral Contemplations are settings (mostly a cappella) of religious/spiritual texts. The music is lyrical, introspective, and bearing a timeless quality that is a product of the harmonic idiom and the gracious blending of voice registers. The chamber choir Phoenix Consort sings with heavenly beauty and tonal purity. The recording, made in St. John’s, Upper Norwood, London, is excellent. Recommended.