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Rating: 
Summary: Some great stuff here!
Review: As we have come to expect from OUP recently, there are some very good arrangements in this edition. Andrew Carter's arrangements of 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' and 'I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside' are lots of fun, and the Bob Chilcott works display his excellent command of choral writing - some are simple, others more complex, but all are very effective. Grayston Ives' 'Name That Tune' is a hoot, but not for the faint hearted (difficult singing, if you're intending to do it properly). In my little vocal octet, we've tackled 'Sourwood Mountain' and 'Tequila Samba' with great success - they are certainly well written crowd-pleasers. I recommend this if you'd like some good encores for your capable community choir - they're very apt for that purpose.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Collection---but a little too English
Review: This is a very good collection, that balances well unaccompanied and accompanied pieces and original compositions and arrangements. The only bone to pick with this is that most of the Composers/Arrangers are English, while Oxford University Press could have picked a greater diversity of composers. Nonetheless, most pieces can be performed by small and big, novice and expert, choirs alike. This collection is very performable and enjoyable.
The best are "Banquet Fugue," "The Goslings," "Christopher Robin is saying his prayers" and "The Mermaid" Bob Chillcott's arrangement of "Steal Away" is not particularly good, is unoriginal and unnecessary. John Rutter is also overstated and is too big of a contributor to this collection.
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