A decade on from his acclaimed Requiem, Matthew Coleridge has followed up with something ‘quite the opposite’ – The Breath of Life, a 30-minute cantata for choir and chamber orchestra that ‘screams joy, vitality and rhythm’, in the composer’s own description. The burgeoning upsurge of volume at the conclusion of the opening movement, ‘Rejoice in God’, fits the bill precisely – full-toned and dispatched with relish by the Royal Holloway Choir.

Jaunty off-beat rhythms and thundering volleys of percussion power the ‘Benedicite’, while ‘Arise, the Breath, the Life’ blazes forth with a peal of choral splendour and a surging part for organ. There are quiet moments too – the placidly flowing ‘Awake, My Glory’, for instance, and the ethereal opening of ‘These Great Trees Are Prayers’, with its plangent cello solo by Lionel Handy. Suffusing all eight movements is a warm glow of hopefulness for the future – not a fashionable message – and conductor Rupert Gough distils this most effectively.

The top-to-bottom strength of the Royal Holloway Choir is highlighted in the soothing eight-part textures of the three Requiem Motets, where Maxim Calver provides a songful cello obbligato. The Three Songs of Light complete the programme, their idiom broadly similar to the Requiem Motets in its richly euphonious harmonies and sense of numinosity. Lovers of Coleridge’s Requiem will find much to relish in this new release. ★★★★