‘Some of the three-part hymns are masterly in their technical assurance, setting the voices free to wander and with the lightness of touch recalling them to the fold for a cadence … exquisitely wrought … to the singers and their director is due an additional hymn of praise’ (Gramophone)
‘Some of Byrd's best writing, with complex imitation enlived by madrigal-style word settings. The Cardinall's Musick seize on the subtleties and expressiveness of these settings … the inventiveness and depth of this recording outweigh its rare longeurs’ (BBC Music Magazine)
‘Sublime music, then, an inspired and inspiring director and a series that Hyperion rescued from another label and has persevered with against all odds’ (International Record Review)
‘The Cardinall's Musick under Andrew Carwood show the deep feeling as well as the dignity of these illicit and originally secret settings’ (The Independent on Sunday)
‘The Cardinall's Musick continues its odyssey through Byrd's vocal output … the singing here is clean and balanced, with no attempt to make women's voices resemble those of boys’ (The Sunday Times)
‘Carwood has given us a series of Byrd recordings that will be a monument when he has finished, and this is a worthy part of the series… don’t wait to add this to our collection’ (Fanfare, USA)