‘A sumptuous banquet of choral delight awaits the hungry listener, laid out in three carefully balanced courses, to be savoured slowly, the whole programme sung and played with superlative skill … James O'Donnell, his Westminster musicians and the Hyperion team have produced another jewel of a disc’ (Gramophone)
‘The choir sounds best in Stanford's quintessentially Anglican Service in B flat and in Walton's The Twelve (1965) to a text by Auden. Its flamboyant organ part and fugal 'Twelve as the winds and the months' finale are intriguin and uplifting’ (The Observer)
‘This superb CD … now that sung Matins is virtually extinct in all but the most august establishments, Stanford's Te Deum and Jubilate from his B flat Service have become comparative rarities, and they make a terrific impact here, organ and choir combining with exultant, spine-tingling resonance … this is cathedral choral singing at its finest and most inspiring’ (The Daily Telegraph)
‘This glorious disc from Hyperion, celebrating what the Abbey choir is all about … the centrepiece of the disc is Byrd's glorious Mass for five voices, superbly delivered in a performance of outstanding clarity and sensitivity under James O'Donnell … Dupré adds his gloss to a Bach cantata movement to provide Robert Quinney and the Abbey organ a magnificent showpiece with which to round off this sumptuous musical feast with suitable exuberance … Hyperion's excellent recording perfectly captures the unique atmosphere. It's as good as being there—without the babble of tourists’ (International Record Review)