John Rutter studied music at Clare College, Cambridge and first came to notice as a composer and arranger of Christmas carols and other choral pieces during those early years; today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. John edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir The Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings on the Collegium Records label, and he appears regularly in several countries as a guest conductor and choral ambassador. John holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music. In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, and in 2024 he was knighted in the King's Birthday Honours.

Christmas Motets, in the Oxford Choral Classics series, makes great claims - it purports to gather in one volume 16 of the finest motets and related pieces for the season of Christmas. Well, I have to concede that it fulfils its brief magnificently . . . Rutter says in his preface that there are omissions and he suggests that there will be a second volume. Let's hope there is - and soon, because we all need to enliven our carol programmes with repertory of this quality. What better way to do it than with this quality volume.

• Virga Jesse floruit ; O magnum mysterium and Beata virgo ; Magnificat ; Quem vidistis, pastores? ; Riu, riu, chiu ; Omnes de Saba venient ; Resonet in laudibus ; Frohlocket, ihr Volker auf Erden ; Nesciens mater ; Hodie Christus natus est ; O beatum et sacrosanctum diem ; In dulci jubilo ; Quem pastores laudavere ; In dulci jubilo ; Hodie Christus natus est ; O magnum mysterium