In compiling this volume, we have endeavoured to cover the major choral works that a music lover is likely to encounter in the concert hall or to sing in a choral society. I am well aware that there are omissions. To keep the book within reasonable bounds I have had to exclude, for instance, Tudor and Renaissance works, Haydn's, Schubert's and Bruckner's Masses, and a number of more recent works on the margin of popularity. The most frequently recorded pieces are included, however, and most recordings up to the end of March 1990 have been considered. As has been my practice in earlier volumes in the ‘On Record’ series, I have let the work and the author dictate the format of each chapter. For instance, it was essential in the case of Messiah to let Teri Noel Towe have the freedom to describe in detail the various performing editions and to indicate anomalies in their performance.

We have endeavoured to make each chapter as comprehensive as possible in its coverage of the work in hand, but inevitably, even with the help of several collectors and libraries, certain sets have eluded us. As in previous volumes, it has amazed me how, without any collusion, different authors have come to similar conclusions about certain artists. There is also an astonishing uniformity in the adverse criticism of conductors and singers in ignoring composers' wishes, in particular as regards tempo. In most cases this criticism is aimed at slow speeds: too many performers today seem to equate a deliberate tempo with deep meaning. Important interpreters of the past seldom make that mistake.