The Swedish Radio Choir comprises 32 professional singers. Since Eric Ericson took over in the 1950s, it has become one of the world's most outstanding choirs - a universal tool of voices capable of delivering the sweetest a cappella tones or of performing an oratorio with enormous power and elasticity. The collective leaves room for each individual form of expression, creating a sound that is unique in the world of choral music. Being one of the world's foremost choirs entails collaborating with the very cream of choirmasters and musicians. On this recording they join with Swedish choirmaster marvel Ragnar Bohlin, leader of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus since 2007, and world-leading trombonist Christian Lindberg - featured here as both soloist and composer. Together they perform In Time of Pestilence, the evocative choral work by American composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Ned Rorem; Visions and Non Thoughts and Vid sista udden by Christian Lindberg for trombone, recitator and mixed choir; Fallandet by Thomas Jennefelt; Lighten mine eyes by Bo Hansson; and muo:aa:yiy::oum, Anders Hillborg's phonetic study in sound. This is the premiere recording on CD of these compositions by Lindberg, Jennefelt and Hansson.

When composing for choir, Sven-David Sandstrom (1942 ) does not hold back in terms of expression or technical demands. This contributes toward a powerfully emotional tonal language, to which the Nordic sound of the Swedish Radio Choir is perfectly suited. Composer and choir have worked together for years and their close relationship is evident in the excellent performances heard here. Channel s usual superb multi-channel recording provides the perfect ambience to allow the music to speak.

Texture and dynamics are among Eric Ericson's main tools for this Volume 2 of contemporary Swedish choral music. Sven-Erik Back, Lars Edlund, Miklos Maros and Arne Mellnas are presented - that is to say, some of our most eminent composers, represented by works of which several are classics already. 'A superb presentation of the current high standard of Swedish choral music' was one reviewer's verdict.

Eric Ericson presents contemporary Swedish choral music on a CD of which a noted reviewer wrote: 'It's almost too good! Two of our foremost 20th century composers are each represented by their five foremost compositions, performed by our best choir and our foremost choral conductor - and, moreover, with a quality of sound engineering both bright and beautiful.'

This uniquely named work has moments of wondrous luminosity, particularly in its second and fourth movements. The second, which has a hypnotic slow lilt to it, even evokes the sensuality of the Poulenc Gloria (closing section), a most unlikely kinship. There are many inspiring moments and many memorable textures, and any worries the composer may have had about Western performers' response to this music would have been quickly dispelled by Tonu Kaljuste and the outstanding Swedish Radio Choir. Their technical assurance is so great that one can easily admire their powerful identification with the music, while Kaljuste clearly has a superb ear for texture, balancing convincingly Schnittke's often densely complex choral writing. The wordless Voices of Nature is a short relatively simple work for ten women's voices and vibraphone. Its coolness, however, makes a welcome foil to the intensity of the Concerto. Then follow three works by Estonian Arvo Part, and many listeners may experience some surprise at the cheerful, almost humorous nature of Dopo la Vittoria. The title means After the Victory, the text telling the story of how Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in the 4th century, composed the hymn Te Deum and sang it with St. Augustine when baptising him. It is a blithe work, with a wonderfully solemn 'Amen' just near the end, before the good-humoured music returns to round the work off.