Wood: Hail, gladdening light – The Choir of Trinity College Chapel (Oxbridge)

This a cappella anthem — which begins at 40.00 in the video below — is one of my favourite Anglican anthems. And because it’s a cappella, for it to be performed correctly, it takes the finest choristers with precise pitch, blending ability, and timing, relying on choristers to hold the beat and create the full musical texture, as The Trinity Choir can do.

The Choir of Trinity College Chapel (part of the established Church of England) performed this anthem effortlessly, including the soprano section’s sustained High B Flat near the end of the piece. This anthem is for Double Chorus where one Chorus — on the Epistle or Gospel side of the Chapel — answers the other. And if you look closely, you’ll see Steven (Trinity’s Director of Music) pointing at one side of the Choir and then the other side for their entrances.

Also Steven took the piece at a nice brisk pace which also allowed the choristers to carry phrases over that are usually not carried over by other choral ensembles. This performance is one of the finest I’ve heard, if not the finest.

It was performed for Choral Evensong during the Fall term (November 2025).

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