UR cathedral city of St Albans has been recognised as a centre of musical excellence since medieval times, but not solely for music at the Abbey (writes Jill Barlow).

The well-known St Peter's Church, in the heart of the city, put on a concert recently to celebrate the 1,050 years of its history and launch their choir's latest CD, We Praise Thee O God.

How is it that this choir has been steadily producing noteworthy boy treble soloists in recent years, with several developing professional careers by the age of 11 in London and beyond?

I went along to find out more.

The main choir of 18 boys and 16 men rehearses twice a week and sings fully choral matins and evensong every Sunday. They opened the concert bang on cue with the magnificent fresh sound of John Ireland's Te Deum Laudamus in F, followed by a delightful performance of Parry's My Soul There is a Country.

However, I was particularly interested to hear the boy treble soloists for which the choir has become so noted.

In Lord Let Me Know Mine End by Greene, we heard an accomplished duet sung by Edward Muhley together with the more experienced 11-year-old Tim Webb, who had appeared in the 1997 West End production of Oliver and took the title role in a recent production of Amahl and the Nightvisitor in Radlett.

This item is also on the CD as is a most evocative performance of Mendelssohn's Oh For The Wings Of a Dove, by 11-year-old professional boy treble David Wigram, for which he must be highly congratulated.

David has developed a lot since I heard him last year in the title role of Amahl in St Albans, and has really found his feet, with performing in Munich with Tim Webb and having appeared in Tosca and the Magic Flute with the English National Opera.

A beautiful performance by former boy treble Peter Crawford also appears on the CD, which illustrates the point that it is the tradition at St Peter's which is producing results, perhaps as well as the fact that although the boys receive a similarly high level of training as at the Abbey.

They do not have to sing an exhausting schedule of daily services, thus helping to conserve their vocal strength for extra curricular performances beyond.

However, no doubt opinions would differ on this point as of course, different regimes suit different boys.

Anyway, as choir master and director of music at St Peter's Christopher Muhley said to me afterwards: "Many visitors to St Peter's proclaim our choir as one of St Albans' best kept secrets."

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