This disc is a benchmark - of interpretation, scholarship and programming. Both its interpretation and its dramatic re-contextualization of Byrd make even the utterly familiar (e.g. 'O Lord make thy servant Elizabeth') startlingly different. Re-contextualization is achieved by having viols replace the organ in liturgical music, and by programming domestic with church composition. That domestic and sacred music-making merged in Byrd's writing is in fact the guiding conviction of this recording. Characteristic of his genius was a facility for combining the beguilingly intimate with the grand. The use of soloists with choir in the verse anthems, the alteration of simple (homophonic) and complex (imitative) writing in the anthems, and the underpinning of soloist with
rich counterpoint in psalm settings create a sense of vertigo. Traversing the terrain of the most personal, one suddenly stands on the brink of the monumental. For this reason, using a viol consort - normally the reserve of domestic music-making - to accompany the choir makes perfect sense. Placing domestic sacred song alongside liturgical music highlights how similar was Byrd's approach to both facets of his output. But it is above all the conviction of the performance - its flawless ensemble, radiant boy trebles and sensitivity to implied rhetoric - that carries the argument. Covey-Crump's creamy colour imbues solo passages with a secular feel, as does the confidence of Roberts' delivery. Fretwork has rarely played more passionately or with greater refinement. The conceits of imagination in Byrd's keyboard fantasias prove a wellspring for Leonard's readings. Meticulousness of engineering and research inform all aspects of this disc's production. Here is a recording whose ingenuity approaches that of the composer it celebrates

This disc is a benchmark - of interpretation, scholarship and programming. …it is above all the conviction of the performance - its flawless ensemble, radiant boy trebles and sensitivity to implied rhetoric - that carries the argument. Rogers Covey-Crump's creamy colour imbues solo passages with a secular feel, as does the confidence of Stefan Roberts's delivery. Fretwork has rarely played more passionately or with greater refinement. Here is a recording whose ingenuity approaches that of the composer it celebrates.

there are two major soloists: on-loan from the Hilliard Ensemble is Rogers Covey-Crump, who sings with impeccable shape and diction, and Magdalen's own Stefan Roberts, who seems astoundingly musically aware for his age...Organ playing from Ryan Leonard is also stylish throughout.

This exquisite disc of music for choir, viols and organ does one of our great Tudor composers proud. The choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, has been doing some really wonderful work recently and it is its beautiful soft-grained
sound that makes this CD so fascinating, taking us back to the all-too-few Magdalen recordings under the late Bernard Rose.