The great service

"The 10 voices of the Cardinall's Musick launch into the opening of Byrd's The Great Service - "O come, let us sing unto the Lord" - with a soaring joyfulness and clarity that sustains throughout this large-scale and elaborate work".

Læs anmeldelse

"This is good news indeed ... Andrew Carwood is particularly good at lightening the mood when Byrd adopts triple time to illustrate words such as 'gladness' or 'jollity' ... [The Great Service] really needs a larger body of singers for the contrast between 'verse' and 'full' sections to be effective. In the Magnificat the proud aren't scattered vigorously enough for my taste ... Don't be put off by my reservations: the performances overall are excellent and the disc is a fine continuation of the group's Byrd Edition".

"There are many great recordings of the Great Service avaiable ... However, this new recording is something special ... There's a clarity and intesity in each verse that is spine-tingling ... The latent energy of the words as made manifest in Byrd's setting is realized with the kind of skill and conviction that moves rather than simply amazes. Which is, I guess, the point of religious music".

"The atmosphere one associates with this combination of "artist and repertoire" is present in abundance: warmth and intimacy combined with a certain reserve ... A disc that fulfils its brief with distinction".

"Musica Contexta's project to free the Great Service from the a cappella tradition into which it has fallen and to restore what may have been its original colours is a bold move, delivered with conviction and a reassuring sense of authority ... The performance standard is high all round. Musica Contexta's singing is tight and energetic, the delivery crisp and clear ... This is a first-class recording of a familiar masterpiece in a refreshed guise ... a resounding success".

"The magnificent series of recordings by The Cardinall's Musick under Andrew Carwood has brought the sacred music of William Byrd to a new generation of listeners ... And there's the rub. The canticles in the 'Great Service', spaciously laid ou for double choir, need more than 17 singers to make their full effect ... The small size of the choir makes the contrast between solo and tutti barely noticeable".